From the Absence of Public Policies to a State of Emergency: The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Migrant Subject Condition

Author(s):  
Giuliana Redin ◽  
Maria do Carmo dos Santos Gonçalves
Author(s):  
Leandro Berenguer ◽  
◽  

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted States to adopt exceptional measures to contain their spreads rates and therefore mitigate their effects. In Portugal there was a need to resort to the figure of the state of emergency, being used for the first time since the foundation of the third Republic. To respond to a situation of public calamity, the suspension, albeit partial, of fundamental rights, freedoms and guarantees was used, adopting measures with repercussions in the most varied areas of civil society. Based on the security context of a State, this article intends to analyse the declarations of the state of emergency in Portugal in the light of the theoretical framework of public policies, reflecting on the process of implementing the state of emergency. To this end, the top-down and bottom-up approaches are placed in confrontation as the main theories of public policies implementation in the analysis of the unprecedented political context in Portugal.


TERRITORIO ◽  
2017 ◽  
pp. 59-60
Author(s):  
Marta Alonso Cabré ◽  
Francesca Nucci

Author(s):  
Federico VAZ ◽  
Sharon PRENDEVILLE

Described as units developing public policies in a design-oriented manner, Policy Labs are tasked to innovate to gain in policy effectiveness and efficiency. However, as public policymaking is a context-dependent activity, the way in which these novel organisations operate significantly differs. This study discusses the emergence of design approaches for policy innovation. The purpose is to map how Policy Labs in Europe introduce design approaches at distinct stages of the policymaking cycle. For this study, 30 organisations in Europe operating at various levels of government were surveyed. Based on the public policymaking process model, it investigates which design methods are Policy Labs deploying to innovate public policies. The study exposed a gap in the awareness of the utilised methods' nature. It also showed that the use of design methods is of less importance than the introduction of design mindsets for public policy innovation, namely ‘user-centredness’, ‘co-creation’, and ‘exploration’.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-45
Author(s):  
Akihiko Shimizu

This essay explores the discourse of law that constitutes the controversial apprehension of Cicero's issuing of the ultimate decree of the Senate (senatus consultum ultimum) in Catiline. The play juxtaposes the struggle of Cicero, whose moral character and legitimacy are at stake in regards to the extra-legal uses of espionage, with the supposedly mischievous Catilinarians who appear to observe legal procedures more carefully throughout their plot. To mitigate this ambivalence, the play defends Cicero's actions by depicting the way in which Cicero establishes the rhetoric of public counsel to convince the citizens of his legitimacy in his unprecedented dealing with Catiline. To understand the contemporaneousness of Catiline, I will explore the way the play integrates the early modern discourses of counsel and the legal maxim of ‘better to suffer an inconvenience than mischief,’ suggesting Jonson's subtle sensibility towards King James's legal reformation which aimed to establish and deploy monarchical authority in the state of emergency (such as the Gunpowder Plot of 1605). The play's climactic trial scene highlights the display of the collected evidence, such as hand-written letters and the testimonies obtained through Cicero's spies, the Allbroges, as proof of Catiline's mischievous character. I argue that the tactical negotiating skills of the virtuous and vicious characters rely heavily on the effective use of rhetoric exemplified by both the political discourse of classical Rome and the legal discourse of Tudor and Jacobean England.


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