POLS 220 The Politics of Crisis: Pandemics and Other Disasters
From extreme weather events to insurrections, crisis seems to consume politics in the United States and the globe. This course examines political leadership, public policymaking, and public opinion during crisis, identifying how crisis transforms politics-as-usual and what these transformations mean for democratic stability, human rights, and citizen wellbeing. The course will focus especially on the politics and policy of the COVID-19 pandemic, exploring to what extent the coronavirus both is and is not a “regular” type of crisis. Topics include: the concentration of policymaking in the executive branch, with consequences for democratic governance; how crisis shapes citizens’ tendencies towards extremism, polarization, and violence; and how crises differentially affect marginalized social groups—and when governments do and do not consider marginality and intersectionality in crisis response and recovery. Throughout, the United States’ pandemic experience will be compared with that of other countries and world regions.
Sub-field: AMERICAN POLITICS or COMPARATIVE POLITICS