European emergency politics and the question of legitimacy

European emergency politics and the question of legitimacy Schmidt, Vivien A. Emergency politics raises theoretical questions about the legitimacy of executive authorities’ governing activities in times of crisis, and in particular whether ensuring effective outcomes (output) can make up for the temporary suspension of political responsiveness (input) and accountable procedures (throughput). Answers depend not only on the specifics of the emergency actions but also on executives’ rhetorical power to legitimize such actions via ideational/discursive coercion, structuring, or persuasion. After outlining the theoretical issues involved, this contribution considers the legitimacy and rhetorical power of political executives in multilateral emergency politics and technical executives in supranational emergency politics. It uses the cases of the Council and the ECB in the Eurozone and Covid-19 crises in illustration, considering their legitimacy over time, between a crisis’ fast-burning phase of emergency politics and its slow-burning phase of legitimizing normalization or delegitimation.