Covid-19: crisis, emotional governance and populist fantasy narratives
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00471178221149634 |
| Published date | 01 March 2023 |
| Date | 01 March 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Forum on COVID-19 and Anxiety in International Relations |
https://doi.org/10.1177/00471178221149634
International Relations
2023, Vol. 37(1) 156 –163
© The Author(s) 2023
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DOI: 10.1177/00471178221149634
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Covid-19: crisis, emotional
governance and populist
fantasy narratives
Catarina Kinnvall
Lund University
Abstract
This short article discusses how different fantasy narratives have come together during the
Covid-19 crisis in various far-right movements, parties and audiences across the world and how
much of these fantasies rely on racialised and gendered notions of a fantastical world-order in
which particular forms of emotional governance provide a relief and sense of security to certain
societal groups. This involves a close engagement with crisis and crisis narratives in relation to
ontological insecurity and anxiety; how such crisis narratives have materialised in fantasies related
to borders and corona nationalism, and the emotional governance of these particular fantasies in
the hands of populist leaders and their increasingly receptive audiences.
Keywords
anxiety, Covid-19, fantasy, populism, ontological insecurity
Introduction
As some countries are slowly adapting to what looks to be a post-pandemic experience,
a number of questions arise in terms of what this experience will entail for the future.
How has the widely dispersed state of uncertainty changed underlying perceptions of self
and others; what will a ‘new normality’ look like in the face of complex borders, anti-
vaxx movements, and an increase in anti-liberal tendencies? To what extent has populist
and authoritarian movements capitalised on the pandemic crisis narratives and what,
if any, creative possibilities have this experience given rise to? These are some of the
questions addressed in this short paper, which is focused on understanding the linkage
Corresponding author:
Catarina Kinnvall, Department of Political Science, Lund University, Box 52, Lund 221 00, Sweden.
Email: Catarina.kinnvall@svet.lu.se
1149634IRE0010.1177/00471178221149634International RelationsKinnvall
research-article2023
COVID-19 and Anxiety
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