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The COVID-19 Pandemic and New Dimensions of Geo- and Biopolitics...
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The COVID-19 Pandemic and New Dimensions of Geo- and Biopolitics in the Global East

A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760). This special issue belongs to the section "Contemporary Politics and Society".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2022) | Viewed by 14439

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Andrey Makarychev

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, University of Tartu, Lossi 36, 51003 Tartu, Estonia
Interests: biopolitics; visual politics; theories of foreign policy; international relations

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

COVID-19 has drastically re-actualized the multiple interconnections between medicine and politics. In this Special Issue, we invite you to explore the validity and applicability of two concepts that seem to nicely reflect the state of the current debate on the pandemic and its long-term consequences—geopolitics and biopolitics. Being genealogically interrelated, they are helpful for understanding how the global state of emergency changes, correspondingly, spatio-territorial and population-centric dynamics of international affairs. Both geopolitical and biopolitical aspects of the ongoing crisis management can be scrutinized through a variety of concepts, including relatively well established (such as, for instance, health diplomacy), yet also new ones (such as, for example, biodiplomacy, vaccine diplomacy, mask diplomacy, medical and somatic sovereignty). Many of these concepts have been primarily discussed in Western political contexts, and only rarely applied to non-Western countries.

In this Special Issue, we intend to publish a bunch of research-based articles covering geopolitical and biopolitical dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic in a vast area known as the ‘global East’ and comprising Eurasia and the post-Soviet space, along with the Middle East, South East Asia and adjacent regions. We welcome submissions which aim to discuss a broad spectrum of relevant issues, such as:

  • The changing interactions between nation states and global/trans-national health and medical organizations (WHO, Doctors without Borders) and vaccine producers
  • COVID-19 and the new facets of the East-West divide
  • The vaccine race and new inequality
  • The governmental perspective on COVID-19
  • COVID-19 and the illiberal turn
  • Pandemic studies in post-colonial contexts

We will gladly consider other possible topics related to your interests and expertise, synthesizing geo- and biopolitical approaches to the coronavirus pandemic.

Potential authors are kindly asked to send titles and one-paragraph abstracts to Andrey Makarychev ([email protected]).

Prof. Dr. Andrey Makarychev
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • geopolitics
  • biopolitics
  • Eurasia
  • post-Soviet space
  • Global East
  • health diplomacy
  • vaccine diplomacy
  • medicine and politics

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 309 KiB  
Article
Crisis Communication and Resilience: Are Russian and Latvian Speakers in the Same Boat?
by Sigita Struberga and Žaneta Ozoliņa
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(5), 216; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11050216 - 13 May 2022
Viewed by 2339
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic is testing the ability of the national governments to manage a crisis by covering policy sectors, which are decisive for health, well-being, sustainability of individuals, and society at large. Communication plays a crucial role in situations when society is at [...] Read more.
The COVID-19 pandemic is testing the ability of the national governments to manage a crisis by covering policy sectors, which are decisive for health, well-being, sustainability of individuals, and society at large. Communication plays a crucial role in situations when society is at risk. Communication is a source of prevention, action, mitigation, and empowerment. Therefore, the ways and means of how national governments and governmental institutions implement adopted strategies, and how they make their actions understandable and reasonable to their societies, become an important element of crisis management at large. Diversification of the modern information environment makes governments’ communication even more complex. The media landscape, especially social media, impact reality’s perception, including crisis and emergencies. As a result, governments are struggling with different forms of messaging and a choice of narratives to be shared with the broader public or societal groups. Considering the existing division in the perception of political realities between Latvian and Russian-speaking communities, Latvia is a case of particular interest for analysis. The article aims to explore how the society has been led through the current crisis communication-wise by the government and what strategies are used for the particular linguistic groups. The article looks at the main factors influencing the perceptions of the Russian-speaking community in Latvia and the main reasons for the existing divergence between perceptions of Latvian and Russian-speaking representatives. The study is based on focus group interviews organized authors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The COVID-19 Pandemic and New Dimensions of Geo- and Biopolitics in the Global East)
15 pages, 413 KiB  
Article
Biopolitical Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Russia, France, Germany, and the UK: The “Post-Truth” Coverage by RT
by Alexandra Yatsyk
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(3), 139; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11030139 - 18 Mar 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3139
Abstract
This paper seeks to examine the COVID-19 crisis in Russia, France, Germany, and the UK, as covered by the Russian state media outlet RT (formerly Russia Today). I view the RT coverage through the prism of biopolitics and critical discourse analysis (CDA) to [...] Read more.
This paper seeks to examine the COVID-19 crisis in Russia, France, Germany, and the UK, as covered by the Russian state media outlet RT (formerly Russia Today). I view the RT coverage through the prism of biopolitics and critical discourse analysis (CDA) to demonstrate multiple discrepancies in its “post-truth” knowledge production strategies. I argue that these strategies aim to expose the hybrid and controversial nature of biopolitical governance in Western democracies during the COVID-19 pandemic as they struggle to strike a balance between imposing social restrictions and safeguarding public health. I also show how the (post)liberal biopolitical debate on personal responsibility and state resilience in times of emergency could be applied by authoritarian regimes for self-description. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The COVID-19 Pandemic and New Dimensions of Geo- and Biopolitics in the Global East)
23 pages, 425 KiB  
Article
Anti-Pandemic Policies in Estonia and Taiwan: Digital Power, Sovereignty and Biopolitics
by Andrey Makarychev and Elizabeth Wishnick
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(3), 112; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11030112 - 8 Mar 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4549
Abstract
Taiwan and Estonia are known as digital democracies facing threats from neighbors exploiting the vulnerabilities stemming from their degree of digitalization. Nevertheless, in their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan and Estonia have highlighted the strengths of digital democracy in combating a non-traditional [...] Read more.
Taiwan and Estonia are known as digital democracies facing threats from neighbors exploiting the vulnerabilities stemming from their degree of digitalization. Nevertheless, in their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan and Estonia have highlighted the strengths of digital democracy in combating a non-traditional security threat without employing the strong-arm tactics of authoritarian states. The goal of the article is to distinguish between vulnerability in cyberspace and digital power and put forward a conception of digital power to explain how Estonia and Taiwan were using their digital prowess to combat COVID-19. We argue that on one hand, their reliance on cybertechnology makes them particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks, but on the other their digital power enhances their global stature and domestic capacity to address threats such as COVID-19. The article starts by engaging with the ongoing academic debate on the concept of digital power and its political core. In the next section we adapt this concept to the policy practices of digital governance in Estonia and Taiwan. Lastly, we look more specifically at how investments in the IT sphere and e-governance were helpful for the two countries during the initial stage of the COVID-19 crisis. In conclusion, we highlight the paradox of two democracies choosing to extend the reach of the state into society through the use of digital tools to combat COVID-19. We further note that the pandemic provides a new biopolitical understanding of vulnerability and power in the digital realm. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The COVID-19 Pandemic and New Dimensions of Geo- and Biopolitics in the Global East)
13 pages, 760 KiB  
Article
The COVID-19 Pandemic and Latvia–Russia Relations: Landscape for Desecuritization or Further Securitization?
by Māris Andžāns and Una Aleksandra Bērziņa-Čerenkova
Soc. Sci. 2021, 10(9), 323; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10090323 - 25 Aug 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3414
Abstract
This article revisits the traditionally jittery Latvian–Russian relations during the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of securitization. Though the pandemic might have offered less space for confrontation and possible prospects for differentiation of (de)securitization vectors, the mutual securitization processes have continued in the [...] Read more.
This article revisits the traditionally jittery Latvian–Russian relations during the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of securitization. Though the pandemic might have offered less space for confrontation and possible prospects for differentiation of (de)securitization vectors, the mutual securitization processes have continued in the vein of previous years. Furthermore, they have showed no signs of easing as not only have the traditional issues remained securitized but new thematic areas both related and unrelated to the pandemic have taken center stage. All in all, the pandemic has opened new avenues for securitization, though it had no fundamental impact on the established securitization trends. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The COVID-19 Pandemic and New Dimensions of Geo- and Biopolitics in the Global East)
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