By Donatella della Porta, Riccardo Emilio Chesta, Daniela Chironi, Stella Christou, Andrea Felicetti.

The Covid-19 pandemic represents one of the most profound critical junctures of the 21st century—a moment of sudden rupture that disrupted institutions, economies, and everyday life across the globe. In Pandemic Communication and Participation, della Porta and her co-authors draw from experiences in Italy, the country arguably hit the hardest by the pandemic in Europe, to explore how this exceptional period reshaped the relationships between science, politics, media, and social movements, offering both new challenges and new opportunities for democratic and civic participation.

A key focus of the volume is on communication—how uncertainty and fear, scientific controversy and mistrust interacted in a rapidly changing information environment. As misinformation and conspiracy theories spread alongside the virus, citizens had to confront what the World Health Organization termed an “infodemic.” The authors examine how media logics, expert overexposure, and political polarisation complicated the public’s understanding of science. Yet, amid this turbulence, the pandemic also encouraged deeper reflections on how to communicate science responsibly and inclusively in democratic societies.

Communication shifted not only in a top-down fashion, but also from the bottom up. The authors explore these developments through the lens of the resignification of health, care, and healthcare during the pandemic. As these questions returned to the centre of public debate and collective action, grassroots actors and collectives used them to articulate diverse visions of how societies should be organised in the future. These renewed conversations reshaped how citizens and institutions alike think about public health, access to healthcare, and the democratic governance of health systems.

At the same time, the pandemic proved to be a moment of intense contention and participation. While lockdowns initially curtailed street protest, progressive movements quickly adapted—occupying digital spaces, transforming balconies into stages of collective expression, and reimagining activism through care networks and grassroots mutual aid. These practices, the authors suggest, exemplify how crises can catalyse creative forms of solidarity and knowledge production, linking local struggles to global demands for equality, justice, and access to health.

Ultimately, Pandemic Communication and Participation invites readers to see the pandemic not only as a period of crisis, but also as a period of opportunities for experimentation with democratic renewal. By analysing how communication, expertise, and collective action intersected during this global emergency, della Porta and colleagues offer a vital reflection on how societies can emerge from crises with stronger, more participatory foundations.

This article was written by Donatella della Porta, Professor of Political Science, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Scuola Normale Superiore, Riccardo Emilio Chesta, Assistant Professor of Sociology of Cultural and Communicative Processes, Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Polytechnic University of Milan, Daniela Chironi, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Faculty of Political and Social Science, Scuola Normale Superiore, Stella Christou, Research Fellow in Political Sociology, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Scuola Normale Superiore and Andrea Felicetti, Senior Assistant Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science, Law and International Studies, University of Padua, Italy.

Pandemic Communication and Participation is available to pre-order in Hardback and eBook.

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