Decisiveness and Fear of Disorder: Political Decision-Making in Times of Crisis
Decisiveness and Fear of Disorder: Political Decision-Making in Times of Crisis
by Julius Maximilian Rogenhofer
University of Michigan Press, 2024
ISBNs
Cloth: 978-0-472-07605-5
Paper: 978-0-472-05605-7
eISBN: 978-0-472-90339-9 (OA)
About the Book
Decisiveness and Fear of Disorder examines how democratic representatives make decisions in crisis situations. By analyzing parliamentary asylum debates from Germany’s Asylum Compromise in 1992-1993 and the 2015-2016 refugee crisis, Julius Rogenhofer identifies representatives’ ability to project decisiveness as a crucial determinant for whether the rights and demands of irregular migrants were adequately considered in democratic decision-making. Both crisis situations showcase an emotive dimension to the parliamentary meaning-making process. As politicians confront fears of social and political disorder, they focus on appearing decisive in the eyes of the public and fellow representatives, even at the expense of human rights considerations and inclusive deliberation processes.
Rogenhofer shows how his theoretical approach allows us to reinterpret a range of crisis situations beyond the irregular migration context, including democracies’ initial responses to Covid-19, the European Sovereign Debt Crisis, and United States climate politics. These additional case studies help position concerns with decisiveness amid the challenges that populism and technocracy increasingly pose to representative democracies.
Rogenhofer shows how his theoretical approach allows us to reinterpret a range of crisis situations beyond the irregular migration context, including democracies’ initial responses to Covid-19, the European Sovereign Debt Crisis, and United States climate politics. These additional case studies help position concerns with decisiveness amid the challenges that populism and technocracy increasingly pose to representative democracies.
About the Author
Julius Maximilian Rogenhofer is a solicitor and a Visiting Fellow at KU Leuven. He obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge, Jesus College in 2022.
Reviews
“This is an outstanding book: meticulously researched, passionately argued and tackling a timely issue, Decisiveness and Fear of Disorder is a gem. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in politics and world affairs.”— Filipe Carreira da Silva, author of The Politics of the Book
“Rogenhofer presents an important contribution to political theory and discussions about the current crisis of democracy and the logic of political action. Decisiveness and Fear of Disorder sheds light not only on the intertwining of decisiveness and emotionality in migration policy and beyond, but also on the potentials of such a consideration for general empirical research on democracy and crisis.”— Reiner Keller, University of Augsburg
Tags
Configurations: Critical Studies Of World Politics, Political leadership, 1990-, Disorder, Crisis management, Times Crisis, Immigration & Emigration, Germany, World, Public Policy, Law, European, Politics and government, Political Science
Open Access Information
Label: Knowledge Unlatched
License: CC BY-NC-ND
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