H-Diplo ROUNDTABLE XXI-55

Résumé En

This roundtable appears during a pandemic that has shifted the terms of global political discourse in at least threeways. First, the lethal threat and massive economic disruption posed by the novel coronavirus have refocusedattention on the justification and limits of the emergency powers inherent in the right of a democratic governmentto guarantee the people’s welfare. Second, national responses to the pandemic have brought to the forefront questions about the inclusiveness of the democratic welfare project. The deeply unfair burdens borne by citizens who are economically interconnected but socially unequal prompt a rethinking of the relationship between collective and individual well-being.And finally, given the challenges faced by formerly colonial societies which are crippled in their responses to the pandemic by past exploitation, the ominous legacy of European nineteenth-century imperialism is newly relevant. Stephen Sawyer’s ground-breaking new book, then, could not come at a more opportune moment. Though it was written with other issues in mind, Demos Assembled deeply engages with just these themes. When everything depends on the ability of democratic states to rise to existential challenges, a nuanced investigation of past efforts to do so compels attention.