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This Open Access book examines many of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic through the distinctive lens of civility. The idea of civility appears often in both public and academic debates, and a polarized political climate frequently leads to allegations of uncivil speech and behaviour. Norms of civility are always contested, even more so in moments of crisis such as a global pandemic. A focus on civility provides crucial insight and guidance on how to navigate the social and political challenges resulting from COVID-19. Furthermore, it offers a framework through which citizens and policymakers can better understand the causes and consequences of incivility, and devise ways to recover civility in our social and political lives.

Over the past 20 years, a number of political theorists have been focusing on the just political treatment of linguistic diversity in liberal democratic societies. This body of work, known as the 'linguistic justice' literature, has mainly examined two specific categories of linguistic groups: autochthonous linguistic minorities and immigrants. However, it has entirely neglected non-resident citizens, that is, citizens of a country who reside in a different one, and their distinctive language interests and rights. In this article, we address this gap by developing a theory of linguistic justice for non-resident citizens, using diaspora institutions as a case study. More specifically, we draw on the linguistic justice literature to outline two categories of non-resident citizens' language interests and rights, that is, those related to opportunity access and to democracy. We finally suggest ways in which language-related diaspora institutions could be reformed in order to better fulfil non-resident citizens' language interests and rights.

Conspiracism has become a topical issue in democracies around the world, eliciting debate in political theory and philosophy regarding its normative and practical implications, especially its potential negative effects on democratic systems. In this article, we analyse conspiracism through the lens of civility. The public virtue of civility plays a key role in democratic politics and in public life more generally, by helping to sustain democratic institutions and facilitating social interaction despite disagreement. If conspiracism undermines civility and contributes to incivility, as we argue in this article, that might have distinctively deleterious effects on democratic life. We begin by unpacking the concept of civility into three key dimensions: (a) civility as politeness, (b) moral civility and (c) justificatory civility. We then illustrate how conspiracism can contribute to incivility and harm democracy in each of the three dimensions but also how it can sometimes be harmless or even helpful for democracy.

This chapter examines new challenges to the politeness dimension of civility presented by COVID-19. First, the pandemic has made it more difficult for people to identify norms of politeness and behave appropriately in circumstances that were previously less contested and problematic. Furthermore, signalling respect and consideration towards others via polite speech or behaviour is more likely to go awry during COVID-19. Additionally, the lack of clarity surrounding norms of politeness may prevent polite acts from helping to mitigate conflict and facilitate cooperative social exchange. Finally, citizens and politicians can exploit disruptions around politeness norms to engage in behaviour that under normal circumstances would be considered impolite. The chapter also identifies potential solutions that governments, businesses, and citizens can adopt to respond to these challenges.

This chapter provides an overview of the human, economic, social, and political costs of COVID-19. The pandemic has had immediate negative health effects and is likely to also cause long-term health problems. In addition to economic repercussions across numerous sectors, COVID-19 has also had significant social and political effects. The chapter focuses on the strains that the pandemic has imposed on relationships between family members, friends, and romantic partners. It shows how COVID-19 has changed social practices in various everyday environments (e.g. restaurants, cafes, public transport), as the public has been forced to reimagine spaces and how to interact within them in ways that comply with new social distancing norms. The chapter also illustrates many of the political implications of COVID-19, including the way it has exacerbated ongoing political conflicts within and between states, compounded pre-existing international problems related to the movement of people, and affected levels of trust and political participation.

This chapter introduces the concept of civility and identifies its two main dimensions. The first, politeness, is related to norms of etiquette and good manners. Politeness involves both structural and agential components, and presents two important functional aspects: it can be used to signal respect and consideration for others, and it can help facilitate social cooperation. The second dimension of civility, public-mindedness, involves treating others as free and equal members of society. Civility as public-mindedness presents two sub-dimensions. The first, moral civility, demands that we respect other people's fundamental rights, liberties, and equal civic standing, for example by avoiding racist and discriminatory speech and behaviour. The second, justificatory civility, requires that we refrain from justifying political rules based on self-interested or sectarian reasons.

This chapter examines the implications of COVID-19 for civility as public-mindedness. First, the pandemic has exacerbated various types of morally uncivil behaviour, such as discrimination and hate. Moreover, COVID-19 has created opportunities for some political actors to put forward sectarian agendas, grounded in partial interests and controversial beliefs, that breach the demands of justificatory civility. Furthermore, some policies to contain the pandemic have resulted in unreasonable 'strains of commitment' for members of marginalized sectors of the population, such as racial minorities, women, the LGBTIQ+ community, and older people; governments should acknowledge this aspect when publicly justifying these policies. Finally, justificatory civility during the pandemic has been undermined by scientific uncertainty around particular aspects of the virus itself; limited research on its social and cultural dimensions; and the politicization of science for personal or partisan advantage. The chapter advances numerous suggestions to counteract these challenges to moral and justificatory civility.

In this article, we offer a normative analysis of environmental politics through the lens of civility. First, we explain what civility is by identifying its three key dimensions: civility as politeness, moral civility and justificatory civility. We then examine various instances of environmental politics and activism through the lens of civility, by focusing on the complex intersections between its three dimensions as well as the hierarchical relationship that exists between them, with moral civility taking precedence over justificatory civility and the latter over civility as politeness. This analysis, we argue, can help us to formulate more nuanced judgements about the desirability of different instances of civil and uncivil environmental politics and activism, and to develop educational strategies for preparing policymakers, environmental activists and citizens more generally to be civil participants in environmental politics.

AbstractLike many countries, the Philippines faced severe economic, social, and political challenges during the COVID‐19 pandemic. In March 2020 President Duterte issued an executive order announcing a national state of emergency that introduced a highly restrictive system for community quarantine and lockdown. While these measures led international observers to rank the Philippines' pandemic response among the world's most stringent, it is unclear whether subsequent health outcomes were sufficient to justify the severity. In this article, we evaluate discrepancies between COVID‐19 policy goals and outcomes in the Philippines via a compelling but under‐utilized method of democratic deliberation, the 'mini‐public'. The mini‐public that we held brought together a random sample of citizens who heard testimony from local public health experts and political leaders, and then used this information in conjunction with their own experiences to identify policy shortcomings and develop recommendations for policymakers. The most substantial challenges to the government's pandemic response were reported to be inadequate enforcement and under‐resourcing of government officials tasked with policy implementation. These challenges created a disconnect between policy objectives and their performance in practice. We conclude by summarizing the mini‐public participants' recommendations.