This discussion addresses the politics of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, with a special focus in Hungary, Czech Republic, Italy, and Finland. The WhiKnow research project has been studying social media during the European Parliament elections in 2019, and have since found themselves surrounded by different responses to the coronavirus. Shift responses to a spreading pandemic have meant not only closing down borders within Europe but also turning to old habits. Various official and popular responses cross-Europe are characteristic of some states’ historical legacies.
The panellists—Emilia Palonen, Katinka Czigány, and Ilana Hartikainen—are reseachers at the University of Helsinki and members of the Helsinki Hub on Emotions, Populism and Polarisation (HEPP). They are affiliated to the Whirl of Knowledge: Cultural Populism and Polarisation in Europe (WhiKnow) project, funded by the Academy of Finland, and the Now-Time Us-Space: Hegemonic Mobilisations in Central and Eastern Europe project, funded by the Kone Foundation, both of which are led by Emilia Palonen, university lecturer in Political Science at the University of Helsinki. Dario Quattromani, from Link Campus University in Rome and an affiliated member of HEPP, also joined the discussion. It was moderated by Claire Gilray, an M.Soc.Sci student in European and Nordic Studies at the university and a research assistant to the team.
The talk is available via Tiedekulma here.