Institutional fragility and institutional malleability: a reflection starting from the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

We must stay vigilant and protect the right to health as well as the rule of law and prevent the virus from infecting the rule of law (Canestrini, 2020: 122) 6.1We can say that something is 'fragile' if shocks, perturbations, stressors can damage, break or destroy it. 2 Therefore, what is fragile is not adaptable. In this regard, Taleb (2012: 12) writes:Think of anything fragile, say, objects in your living room such as the glass frame, the television set, or, even better, the china in the cupboards. If you label them 'fragile', then you necessarily want them to be left alone in peace … A fragile object would not possibly benefit from an earthquake or the visit of your hyperactive nephew.According to Taleb, this notion of fragility can be employed when discussing, for instance, states of health, natural environments, physical structures (for 1 This work is supported by the RIBA project 'Norms, Uncertainty and Space (NOUS)', Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano (Italy). 2Compare with Chiffi and Curci (2019: 56): 'In a broad sense, by fragility we refer to the quality of an object or system (but metaphorically also of a person, a social group, a territory, etc.) to be easily "broken" (from the Latin frangere = to break) even by a minor, ordinary, or non-violent force'. They add: 'Fragility is an intrinsic characteristic associated with a specific fracture modality (whether short, sudden, or abrupt) that is independent from the specific type of shock' (Chiffi and Curci, 2019: 56).