“We can learn something about the role of nationalism in the management of public health crises by looking at the variable state responses to the arrival of the virus within their borders,” our Research Affiliate Erin Kristin Jenne writes in her article in Nationalities Papers, published by Cambridge University Press.
“Florian Bieber predicted that the Covid-19 pandemic would have limited long-term effects on the global rise in the level of nationalism because most governments were likely to revert to their prior nationalist trajectories following the pandemic,” she writes. “In the modern international system, state governments are tasked with safeguarding the health and well-being of their national populations,” she continues, adding that “during national emergencies, sovereigntist movements form around competing images of the nation that deserves protection.”ű
The article uses “political artwork to show how different images of the idealized sovereign community were employed to justify divergent pandemic policies of US President Donald Trump and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Over the course of the pandemic, both leaders came under fire for failing to protect their constituents, providing space for alternative leaders and models of national protection.”