Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction and acknowledgements / Matthias C Kettemann and Konrad Lachmayer -- Lawless extravagance : the primacy claim of politics and the state of exception in times of COVID-19 / Paul Gragl -- Abuse of power and self-entrenchment as a state response to the COVID-19 outbreak : the role of parliaments, courts and the people / Antonios Kouroutakis -- Democracy, death and dying : the potential and limits of legal rationalisation / Konrad Lachmayer -- Virus governance in the United Kingdom / Robert Thomas -- Germany - federalism in action / Pierre Thielbörger -- The marginalisation of parliament in facing the coronavirus emergency : what about democracy in Italy? / Arianna Vedaschi -- Swedish constitutional response to the coronavirus crisis the odd one out? / Julia Dahlqvist and Jane Reichel -- Using emergency powers in Hungary : against the pandemic and/or democracy? / Zoltán Szente and Fruzsina Gárdos-Orosz -- Switzerland : the (missing) role of parliament in times of crisis / Odile Ammann and Felix Uhlmann -- The hyper-executive state of emergency in France / Sylvia Brunet -- Pandemics, expertise and deliberation at the international level / Pedro A Villarreal -- EU response to fighting the coronavirus - coordination, support, action - heeding its citizens' calls? / Anja Naumann -- Pandemics and platforms : private governance of (dis)information in crisis situations / Matthias C Kettemann and Marie-Therese Sekwenz -- Digital human rights proportionality during global crisis / Mart Susi -- The pandemic and illiberal constitutional theories / Gábor Halmai -- Populism versus democracy during a pandemic : some preliminary considerations / Jan-Werner Müller -- Conclusions : pandemocracy - governing for the people, without the people? / Konrad Lachmayer and Matthias C Kettemann.

"This open access book explains why a democratic reckoning will start when European societies win the fight against COVID-19. Have democracies successfully mastered the challenges of the pandemic? How has the coronavirus impacted democratic principles, processes and values? At the heels of the worst public health crisis in living memory, this book shines an unforgiving light on the side-lining of parliaments, the ruling by governmental decrees and the disenfranchisement of the people in the name of fighting COVID-19. Pandemocracy in Europe situates the dramatic impact of COVID-19, and the fight against the virus, on Europe's democracies. Throughout its 17 contributions the book sets the theoretical stage and answers the democratic questions engaged by health emergencies. Seven national case studies - UK, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Hungary, Switzerland, and France - show, each time with a pronounced focus on a particular element of democracy, how different states reacted to the pandemic. The book also shifts the analytical gaze beyond the nation state towards international settings, looking at the effects on the European Union and considering the impact on populist movements. Bridging disciplines and uniting a stellar cast of scholars on democracy, rule of law and constitutionalism, the book provides contours and nuances to a year of debates in political science, international relations and law on the impact of the virus on democracies. In times of uncertainty, Pandemocracy in Europe provides analysis and answers to the democratic challenges of the coronavirus. The open access edition of this book is available under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on www.bloomsburycollections.com"-- Provided by publisher.