Laissez-faire

"Sweden was maligned in 2020 for foregoing a strict lockdown. The Guardian called its approach 'a catastrophe' in the making, while CBS News said Sweden had become 'an example of how not to handle COVID-19' ", fee.org portal reports.

The responses to crises come in two phases. First, governments respond in predictable ways, consistent with how they have acted before. But then crises have a longer-lasting power, and that is to shift our thinking about what governments should do. The coronavirus is a totemic case in this respect.

This description applies both to the first Industrial Revolution and to our current moment. One way or another, the wave of technological revolution underway today will require a new theory of state.