Scientific Journal "Sociology: Theory, Methods, Marketing"
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BIOPOLITICS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: DILEMMAS OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND FREEDOM
stmm. 2021 (2): 181-196
DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/sociology2021.02.181
OLEKSANDR STEGNII, Doctor of Sciences in Sociology, Leading Research Fellow at the Department of Methodology and Methods of Sociology, Institute of Sociology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (12, Shovkovychna St., Kyiv, 01021)
o.stegniy@gmail.com.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7829-127X
The article considers the problem of maintaining a balance between the need for public safety and protection of civil liberties in a coronavirus pandemic. The theoretical works of Michel Foucault on biopower and biopolitics, the feasibility of using a biological model of government to organize modern government measures to combat the spread of the pandemic are analyzed. The global scale of the spread of the coronavirus brings biopower to a fundamentally higher level of subordination. Modern biopolitics should be understood as political rationality, which assumes the management of life and population as a subject. Modern biopolitics should be seen as a strategic coordination of national governments and the global community, to determine the potential ability of government agencies to regulate and regulate biological hazards, including the spread of infectious diseases. Effective international cooperation in overcoming the pandemic is hampered by "vaccine nationalism", the use of vaccine production as a tool of geopolitical competition. Biopower determines the individual well-being and self-awareness of people, significantly affects social ties, promising adequate protection against pathogenic influences, epidemiological threats to health. The introduction of strict restrictions on movement, quarantine measures is proclaimed by the authorities as the need to break the chain of epidemiological infection. The unconditional importance of biosafety as a component of public security determines the consent of citizens to the restriction of their freedoms, to which they did not previously agree. From this point of view, there is a fundamental possibility of implementing a democratic biopolitics in a pandemic. n Ukraine, the attitude of public opinion to the restrictive measures of the government is determined by the effectiveness of compensatory proposals for small businesses, primarily the ability to save jobs and minimize fiscal pressure. The danger of the COVID-19 pandemic for modern Ukrainian society lies not only in the large-scale epidemiological crisis, but also in the danger of provoking foreign government decisions. In this socio-political context, the weight of arguments in favor of the spread of preventive measures without suspension of economic activity, namely the conduct of a permanent information campaign among the population on the rules of conduct in a pandemic.
Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, biopower, biopolitics, public safety, epidemiological danger, restriction of civil liberties
References
Agamben, G. (2020). The Invention of an Epidemic. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/3eiFqXM
Borodchuk, N., Cherenko, L. (2020). Combating COVID-19 in Ukraine: Initial Impact Assessments on Poverty. [In Ukrainian]. Retrieved from: https://uni.cf/3sz1O4q [=Бородчук, Черенько 2020]
Responding to the challenges of COVID-19 and human rights: an overview of the situation (2020). [In Ukrainian]. Kyiv. Center for Civil Liberties. [=Відповідь 2020]
Chelepis, A. (2020). Cybersecurity and COVID-19. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic COVID-19 on human rights, freedoms and security in the information sphere (pp.83–86). [In Ukrainian]. Kyiv: Politekhnik. [=Челепіс 2020]
Dombrowski, P.M. (2020). COVID-19 Dilemmas: Who to Save — Businesses or People? [In Ukrainian]. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/38R15nW [=Домбровски 2020]
Foucault, M. (1996). The Will to Truth: Beyond Knowledge, Power and Sexuality. [In Russian]. Moscow: Castal. [=Фуко 1996]
Foucault, M. (2006). Intellectuals and Power. Selected political articles, speeches and interviews. Part 3. [In Russian]. Moscow: Praxis. [=Фуко 2006]
Foucault, M. (2010). The birth of biopolitics. A course of lectures given at the College de France in the 1978–1979 Academic Year. [In Russian]. St. Petersburg: Science. [=Фуко 2010]
Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (2020). Evaluation of the government success and the society reaction to the coronavirus epidemic and political issues in Ukraine. 7–11 April 2020. [In Ukrainian]. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/3dxTFZF [=Київський міжнародний інститут соціології 2020]
Lazzarato M. (2006) From Biopower to Biopolitics. Tailoring Biotechnologies, 2 (2), 11–20.
Negri, A. (2008). Labor of the Multitude and the Fabric of Biopolitics. Mediations, 23 (2), 9–26.
Obodovska, M. (2021). Trust in government: government crisis communication of vaccines (COVID-19 vaccine) in post-trust era. In: Issues in the development of sociological theory: Conceptual Strategies for the Study of Social Consequences of COVId-19 Pandemic (pp. 40–42). Kyiv: Naukova stolytsia.
Razumkov Center (2020). Ensuring human rights and freedoms in Ukraine in the context of the spread of coronavirus infection (COVID-19): features and ways to improve. [In Ukrainian]. Kyiv: Zapovit. [=Центр Разумкова 2020]
Rosling, G., Rosling-Ronlund, A., Rosling, U. (2019). Factology. [In Ukrainian]. Kyiv: Nash format. DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/17448689.2020.1794398 [=Рослінг, Рослінг-Рьонлюнд, Рослінг 2019]
Pleyers, G. (2020). The Pandemic is a battlefield. Social movements in the COVID-19 lockdown. Journal of Civil Society, 16 (4), 295–312.
Sociological group "Rating" (2021). Socio-political postures of the population.6–7 April 2021. [In Ukrainian]. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/2OJq0TH [=Соціологічна 2021]
Sociological group "Rating". (2020a). Ukraine in quarantine: monitoring of public sentiments. The first wave 25-27 March 2020, the second wave 28-30 March 2020. [In Ukrainian]. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/33ZmPfd [=Соціологічна 2020a]
Sociological group "Rating". (2020b). Ukraine in quarantine: monitoring of public sentiments. 28–30 November 2020. [In Ukrainian]. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/372KNrC [=Соціологічна 2020b]
SOCIS Center for Social Marketing Research (2020). Coronavirus and quarantine: what do Ukrainians think about it? 23-30 April 2020. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/2Q9dbmB [=Центр соціальних 2020]
Sotiris, P. (2020). Against Agamben: Is a Democratic Biopolitics Possible? Отримано з: https://bit.ly/3n6TDLp
Received 15.04.2021
BIOPOLITICS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: DILEMMAS OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND FREEDOM
stmm. 2021 (2): 181-196
DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/sociology2021.02.181
OLEKSANDR STEGNII, Doctor of Sciences in Sociology, Leading Research Fellow at the Department of Methodology and Methods of Sociology, Institute of Sociology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (12, Shovkovychna St., Kyiv, 01021)
o.stegniy@gmail.com.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7829-127X
The article considers the problem of maintaining a balance between the need for public safety and protection of civil liberties in a coronavirus pandemic. The theoretical works of Michel Foucault on biopower and biopolitics, the feasibility of using a biological model of government to organize modern government measures to combat the spread of the pandemic are analyzed. The global scale of the spread of the coronavirus brings biopower to a fundamentally higher level of subordination. Modern biopolitics should be understood as political rationality, which assumes the management of life and population as a subject. Modern biopolitics should be seen as a strategic coordination of national governments and the global community, to determine the potential ability of government agencies to regulate and regulate biological hazards, including the spread of infectious diseases. Effective international cooperation in overcoming the pandemic is hampered by "vaccine nationalism", the use of vaccine production as a tool of geopolitical competition. Biopower determines the individual well-being and self-awareness of people, significantly affects social ties, promising adequate protection against pathogenic influences, epidemiological threats to health. The introduction of strict restrictions on movement, quarantine measures is proclaimed by the authorities as the need to break the chain of epidemiological infection. The unconditional importance of biosafety as a component of public security determines the consent of citizens to the restriction of their freedoms, to which they did not previously agree. From this point of view, there is a fundamental possibility of implementing a democratic biopolitics in a pandemic. n Ukraine, the attitude of public opinion to the restrictive measures of the government is determined by the effectiveness of compensatory proposals for small businesses, primarily the ability to save jobs and minimize fiscal pressure. The danger of the COVID-19 pandemic for modern Ukrainian society lies not only in the large-scale epidemiological crisis, but also in the danger of provoking foreign government decisions. In this socio-political context, the weight of arguments in favor of the spread of preventive measures without suspension of economic activity, namely the conduct of a permanent information campaign among the population on the rules of conduct in a pandemic.
Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, biopower, biopolitics, public safety, epidemiological danger, restriction of civil liberties
References
Agamben, G. (2020). The Invention of an Epidemic. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/3eiFqXM
Borodchuk, N., Cherenko, L. (2020). Combating COVID-19 in Ukraine: Initial Impact Assessments on Poverty. [In Ukrainian]. Retrieved from: https://uni.cf/3sz1O4q [=Бородчук, Черенько 2020]
Responding to the challenges of COVID-19 and human rights: an overview of the situation (2020). [In Ukrainian]. Kyiv. Center for Civil Liberties. [=Відповідь 2020]
Chelepis, A. (2020). Cybersecurity and COVID-19. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic COVID-19 on human rights, freedoms and security in the information sphere (pp.83–86). [In Ukrainian]. Kyiv: Politekhnik. [=Челепіс 2020]
Dombrowski, P.M. (2020). COVID-19 Dilemmas: Who to Save — Businesses or People? [In Ukrainian]. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/38R15nW [=Домбровски 2020]
Foucault, M. (1996). The Will to Truth: Beyond Knowledge, Power and Sexuality. [In Russian]. Moscow: Castal. [=Фуко 1996]
Foucault, M. (2006). Intellectuals and Power. Selected political articles, speeches and interviews. Part 3. [In Russian]. Moscow: Praxis. [=Фуко 2006]
Foucault, M. (2010). The birth of biopolitics. A course of lectures given at the College de France in the 1978–1979 Academic Year. [In Russian]. St. Petersburg: Science. [=Фуко 2010]
Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (2020). Evaluation of the government success and the society reaction to the coronavirus epidemic and political issues in Ukraine. 7–11 April 2020. [In Ukrainian]. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/3dxTFZF [=Київський міжнародний інститут соціології 2020]
Lazzarato M. (2006) From Biopower to Biopolitics. Tailoring Biotechnologies, 2 (2), 11–20.
Negri, A. (2008). Labor of the Multitude and the Fabric of Biopolitics. Mediations, 23 (2), 9–26.
Obodovska, M. (2021). Trust in government: government crisis communication of vaccines (COVID-19 vaccine) in post-trust era. In: Issues in the development of sociological theory: Conceptual Strategies for the Study of Social Consequences of COVId-19 Pandemic (pp. 40–42). Kyiv: Naukova stolytsia.
Razumkov Center (2020). Ensuring human rights and freedoms in Ukraine in the context of the spread of coronavirus infection (COVID-19): features and ways to improve. [In Ukrainian]. Kyiv: Zapovit. [=Центр Разумкова 2020]
Rosling, G., Rosling-Ronlund, A., Rosling, U. (2019). Factology. [In Ukrainian]. Kyiv: Nash format. DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/17448689.2020.1794398 [=Рослінг, Рослінг-Рьонлюнд, Рослінг 2019]
Pleyers, G. (2020). The Pandemic is a battlefield. Social movements in the COVID-19 lockdown. Journal of Civil Society, 16 (4), 295–312.
Sociological group "Rating" (2021). Socio-political postures of the population.6–7 April 2021. [In Ukrainian]. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/2OJq0TH [=Соціологічна 2021]
Sociological group "Rating". (2020a). Ukraine in quarantine: monitoring of public sentiments. The first wave 25-27 March 2020, the second wave 28-30 March 2020. [In Ukrainian]. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/33ZmPfd [=Соціологічна 2020a]
Sociological group "Rating". (2020b). Ukraine in quarantine: monitoring of public sentiments. 28–30 November 2020. [In Ukrainian]. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/372KNrC [=Соціологічна 2020b]
SOCIS Center for Social Marketing Research (2020). Coronavirus and quarantine: what do Ukrainians think about it? 23-30 April 2020. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/2Q9dbmB [=Центр соціальних 2020]
Sotiris, P. (2020). Against Agamben: Is a Democratic Biopolitics Possible? Отримано з: https://bit.ly/3n6TDLp
Received 15.04.2021
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