ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of the politics of insecurity where potential collective threats are framed by political actors. The chapter also stresses the importance of focusing on economic and social inequalities when studying the politics of insecurity. As suggested, this exploration benefits from close attention to both inequalities and existing policy legacies. At the same time, the ideational aspect of the politics of insecurity, which frequently takes the form of framing (i.e. the strategic use of ‘symbols and concepts’ (Campbell, 2004, p. 94) to shape individual and collective perceptions), is crucial to grasp their subjective and intersubjective construction over time. This aspect of insecurity remains understudied and is the focal point of the present chapter. It begins with the discussion of a framework for the study of the politics of insecurity centred on the analysis of framing processes and the strategies of political actors related to them. Emphasizing the importance of agenda-setting and framing processes is a direct contribution of this chapter to the scholarship on security and insecurity as they interact with economic, social and territorial inequalities. It is through this framework that the chapter explores the politics of insecurity surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the chapter focuses primarily on Canada and the United States, global forces and the situation in other countries are also discussed. Empirically, using a qualitative comparative case study approach and drawing on academic, media and government sources to illustrate theoretical claims, the chapter primarily studies the discourse of domestic and international policymakers about COVID-19 as a source of collective and global insecurity that closely intersects with patterns of inequality.
