Constituting the negative globality of fear

Abstract

This Editorial Reflection traces the global proliferation of pandemic fears and follows them through psychological theories as well as legal measures of infection control. Pandemic fears are included in the controversial discussion on how laws and constitutions (should) protect freedom in a pandemic and how the fear of contagion and the insecurity triggered by infection protection measures reinforce each other and contribute to the negativity of a pandemic. In closing, the article presents different forms of fear denial such as conspiracy myths, stimulated by anti-COVID-19 regimes of law and politics.