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Legislating for a pandemic: exposing the stateless state

Kirton-Darling, Edward, Carr, Helen, Varnava, Tracey (2020) Legislating for a pandemic: exposing the stateless state. Journal of Law and Society, 47 (S2). S302-S320. ISSN 0263-323X. E-ISSN 1467-6478. (doi:10.1111/jols.12271) (KAR id:83494)

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Abstract

Initially the subject of widespread consensus, legislative and policy responses to coronavirus are increasingly provoking predictable, albeit understandable, reactions. The right and the left are

united by a concern that essential freedoms are being eroded by a State utilising the opportunity of the pandemic to make a power-grab. Focused on the Coronavirus Act 2020, this article takes a more cautious approach, suggesting instead that the law should be understood not as the product of a hierarchical State but rather as a demonstration of the ‘statelessness’ of the contemporary state. The article examines the Act, with particular focus on open justice, adult social care, and Business Improvement Districts. We argue that reading this unique piece of legislation through the lens of the stateless state reveals the complexities, ambiguities and contestations within contemporary policy making. We suggest that dismissing the Act as unnecessarily authoritarian is an insufficiently nuanced response, and furthermore, that this exploration of the law allows us to develop and complicate scholarship on the stateless state.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1111/jols.12271
Uncontrolled keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus Act 2020
Subjects: K Law
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > Kent Law School
Depositing User: Sian Robertson
Date Deposited: 16 Oct 2020 12:34 UTC
Last Modified: 13 Dec 2024 09:15 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/83494 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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