Episode 5 - From Democratic Decline to Totalitarianism? Evaluating Responses to the Corona Pandemic
Listen now
Description
BOOK REVIEW - Velimir Šonje and Kristijan Kotarski "Corona Economics: The Five Horsemen of the Apocalypse" When the pandemic was first confirmed, self-preservation instincts kicked in. In a global communication environment defined by the real-time free flow of information, fear spreads faster than any virus ever could. Combined with the fact that scientific knowledge of the virus was limited, the fear of infection eclipsed every other argument in the public debate. Naturally, the call to protect ourselves and others from infection was prioritised.  It may be argued that the combination of fear, lack of information, and shallow moralising did nothing to help our societies deliberate or develop adequate public health policies. On the contrary, downgrading dissenting voices prima facie suppressed public discussion and encouraged a  continuous sense of panic in society. In this context, the authors—economist Velimir Šonje and political scientist Kristijan Kotarski—examine the external and internal factors placing pressure on the decision-making process and the very fundamental values that underlie liberal democracy in Europe.
More Episodes
Shortly after the publication of the book, Larry Siedentop wrote an article in the Financial Times denouncing the ‘moral tepidity’ of the West. The West obsessively equated liberalism with secularism and neutrality, ignoring the Medieval period, which was associated with darkness, ignorance, and...
Published 08/21/23
Published 08/21/23
When thinking of “the law,” the average person in continental Europe thinks of codexes and books. The criminal code, the civil code, the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB, or German Civil Code), the Code Civil, and so on are collections of legal rules that seem to be created by parliaments and...
Published 08/17/23