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Governance in a Digital Age and Wuhan’s Fight against the Coronavirus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 October 2020

Weihua He
Weihua He*
Affiliation:
School of Foreign Languages, Central China Normal University, 152 Luoyu Road, Wuhan430079, People’s Republic of China. Email: [email protected] and [email protected]
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Abstract

Shortly after hosting the Seventh CISM Military World Games, the city of Wuhan was hit by Covid-19, and thus became a centre of global attention. To protect the life and health of the people in Wuhan, China declared an all-out war to contain the virus. Using drastic measures that exacted high socio-economic costs, Wuhan was gradually restored to peace, vitality, and prosperity. In a city under lockdown, coordination, management, and governance at different levels were facilitated by information and communication technologies. This article examines the enhanced capabilities of individuals and institutions in a digital age to respond to crises, and the debates and ideological entanglements relating to the virus. It concludes with an anticipation of the ‘New Normal’ after the pandemic by responding to Giorgio Agamben’s views on the ‘state of exception’.

Type
Focus: Confronting the COVID-19 Epidemic and Control: Reports and Reflections from China
Information
European Review , Volume 29 , Issue 6 , December 2021 , pp. 770 - 780
Copyright
© 2020 Academia Europaea

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