The Emergency Modality

The chapter makes a nominalist approach to the notion of ‘emergency modality’ echoing the postulates of Michel Foucault and actor-network theory. It is argued that there is no univocal meaning to the concept of ‘emergency’. This depends directly on the technology and the set of practices that accompany the use of the word. In this way, it is put forward that an emergency modality is not the same when the threat is treated with the old technology of risk calculation than when modern protocols or scenarios are used. In each case, the notion of emergency acquires a differentiated meaning redefining the biological threat in a specific sense. To show this, three concrete sets of practices that have been put into operation in historical bio-threats are analysed. First, risk calculation, using the example of SARS and the A(H1N1) epidemic, is examined. Second, the use of protocols in the case of Zika is examined. Finally, the action of scenarios is examined, drawing on the example of the Ebola epidemic in 2014. The chapter concludes by demonstrating how scenario planning rejects an understanding of the future as anticipation. Instead, it is conceptualised as a life experience of uncertainty that can be experienced in the present.