The Organisation of Irresponsibility?

This volume shows how post-neoliberal states and governing classes were unequal to the historical moment of COVID-19, learning little about how to adapt to wider political, socio-economic, and ecological challenges.

The COVID-19 pandemic challenged us to rethink how contemporary states navigate crises. But despite the extraordinary transformations of 2020–22, existing inequalities and power imbalances proved remarkably resilient. Bringing together critical perspectives, the book highlights how decision-making, leadership, and policy responses were inseparable from political power structures and societal contexts. The volume shows how crisis governance is actively contested, resisted, and shaped by social groups - and how social cleavages are either deepened or challenged in times of crisis.

ISBN: 9798888909218

Publication date: December 29, 2026

List of Figures and Tables
Notes on Contributors

1 Preface: The Organisation of Irresponsibility? COVID-19 and the Governance of State-Society Relations in Europe
 Ewan Kerr, Emina Bužinkić and James Foley
2 The Management of Accountability: State Transformation and Class Politics in Scotland’s COVID-19 Response  Ewan Kerr and James Foley

3 Entangled Crises and Anti-systemic Mobilisations in Germany
 Christian Fröhlich and Mihai Varga
4 Protest Movements in Pandemics: Dynamics of 4C Social Responses to COVID-19 Governance in Poland  Wojciech Ufel, Anna Cichecka and Mateusz Karolak
5 Governing through Crisis: Racialised Exception and Securitisation in Croatia’s COVID-19 Response  Emina Bužinkić and Senada Šelo Šabić

6 The Struggle over Masks on Twitter: an AC/DT Approach to Finnish Pandemic Governance
 Juha Koljonen, Kleber Carrilho, and Emilia Palonen
7 Bottom-Up Governance in Times of Crisis: Informal Practices and Migrant Agency in Germany’s Assyrian Community during COVID-19  Soner Barthoma
8 Managing Crises through Deepening Inequalities: the Neoliberal Labour Politics of the Turkish State during the COVID-19 Pandemic  Erdem Damar

9 CODA: COVID-19 – a Neoliberal Pandemic
 Alfredo Saad Filho

Index