Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: A popular view of contemporary New Zealand politics is that it is devoid of ‘religious’ dynamics, but the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic showed that religious ideals, cosmological paradigms, doctrinal discourses, and ritual practices continue to shape political processes. This article analyses themes of transcendence and the sacred in the government’s handling of the Covid pandemic, themes that became fundamental to the daily management of the pandemic and its various effects. Drawing on scholarship on political theology, this article explores ideas of solidarity, sacrifice, sovereignty, and the iconic to facilitate a better understanding of the contestations over governance during a time of crisis.
Source: Counterfutures
DOI: 10.11157/cf.v14.241
Author: Philip Fountain
Institution: Victoria University of Wellington
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4394729019