Balancing of politics and the political
The (de)political nature of COVID-19 preventive measures established by the Finnish government on 16.3.2020
Keywords:
the political, depoliticization, space for politics, COVID-19 pandemicAbstract
Modern management can be seen as having strong depoliticizing features. Depoliticization research maps out several different processes by which the topic is either moved out of political arenas or framed as non-political. Depoliticization processes may thus target the operational space of politics (for example, in relation to administration and management) or the space of the schmittian political. To illustrate this division, I use Max Weber’s and Carl Schmitt’s different ontological approaches to politics and the political. This article focuses on the corona measures outlined by the Finnish government in spring 2020 and examines their political nature. The government aimed to take action to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic that had broken out early 2020. The political nature of the actions is highlighted in this article through the ontological framework, but also through a contrafactual analysis that enables further inspection of the relevant political and jurisdictional frameworks. The corona measures appear to fit into a schmittian framework where politics actively uses its power, both in the realm of politics as well as the political. The depoliticization framework illustrates the need to examine the space of the political, the room to move and operate, at a time when it is easy to identify trends that aim to limit it on several different fronts.
