Graduation Year

2026

Date of Submission

12-2025

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Government

Reader 1

Mark Blitz

Rights Information

© 2025 Annika Sharma

Abstract

The tension between law and political judgment was undeniably apparent in California’s response to COVID-19. This thesis brings Aristotle's Politics and Locke’s Second Treatise into conversation with this case to inquire how political communities should exercise emergency power in a splintered federal system. The first two chapters will reconstruct each philosopher’s theories on emergency states by delving deeply into their political philosophies respectively. Chapter 3 turns to the United States and California in 2020, retracing how the events unfolded. I then argue how California’s use of emergency powers embodies Locke’s case for flexible executive judgment but also exposes how institutional fragmentation can blunt that judgment in ways Locke underestimates. Second, I show that Aristotle's insistence on a unified common good helps explain why California’s multi-layered authorities often seem to work at cross-purposes. The thesis concludes by sketching a hybrid model of emergency governance in which higher-level officials set clear, shared ends while local governments retain discretion over implementation. The difference between failure and effective crisis management will hinge less on the severity of the danger being faced and more on whether institutions can respond as one.

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This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.

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