In the search of common ground for global actions: The COVID-19 DDM protocol

The SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic faced our world with a global threat requiring quick and coordinated actions involving international organizations, states, and citizens. In response, the DDM protocol (distance, disinfection, and masks) appeared to globally coordinate the behaviour and mutual interactions of groups and societies. The World Health Organization (WHO) performed a central role as a protocol (en)actant. The WHO was framing the DDM protocol on many levels. From a political perspective, the DDM protocol regulated agenda setting and kept control over the outcomes of political decisions taken by authorized actors. The technological aspect of the protocol was determined by networked media platforms for the reproduction of messages that recommended legitimate ways of combating the pandemic. From a legal point of view, the DDM protocol was based on commonly shared norms of mutual responsibility, solidarity, justice, and care for other people. In other words, the DDM protocol directly affected the daily functioning of citizens and was, in fact, addressed to them. The main message of the DDM protocol was that the virus could and had to be stopped and that the world may be safe again, if all adhere to the rules epitomized by the acronym DDM. Therefore, the key message of the DDM protocol ("contain the virus and make the world safe") was specified, communicated, replicated, and reproduced through official and unofficial networks and channels and became a common ground for a global answer to the pandemic threat. In this presentation, all aspects of the DDM protocol will be demonstrated in the context of theory of security protocolarization.