Herd‐immunity across intangible borders: Public policy responses to COVID‐19 in Ireland and the UK

Abstract

This contribution reviews and compares public policy responses to COVID-19 in Ireland and the UK and considers the impact that the governments' divergent approaches to the pandemic had on public support and trust in government in the first months of the crisis (February-June 2020).

Claiming credit and avoiding blame: political accountability in Greek and Turkish responses to the COVID‐19 crisis

“…Here, both Greek and Turkish leaders acted in similar fashion. Lockdown measures were previously implemented in other countries, for example, China, while Italy (and the UK, see Colfer, 2020 [this issue]) served as the morbid reminder of what happens when they are ignored. Second, the pandemic's embodied nature allows for responsibility‐sharing so that leaders can “have their cake and eat it, too.” Citizens in democratic societies must take charge of their own health while heeding warnings by experts and the state, thereby sharing responsibility and diffusing accountability.…”

“…If they succeeded in slowing down the spread of the disease, he could easily step in to claim credit. If they failed, he could hold them accountable for not making the right choices (see Colfer, 2020 [this issue]). As it turns out, they succeeded.…”

Ultra‐orthodoxy and selective voluntarism: How did the Orbán regime react to the first wave of the pandemic?

“…Although by this time government communication had been dominated by the pandemic response, no other policymaker than the prime minister emerged as a key decision maker in relation to the crisis. This was in contrast to the practice of a number of liberal democratic governments that placed high-profile civil servants with a technocratic profile or highly esteemed experts in the forefront of government communication on the pandemic (see Colfer, 2020;Zahariadis et al, 2020). This way, elected officials could distance themselves from expert-opinion-based decisions and could limit the political risk of concomitant measures.…”

Public policy responses to COVID‐19 in Europe

“…Relatedly, an analysis of public policy responses to COVID-19 can reveal much about political behavior, and how leaders deal with uncertainty, risk, and expertise. Risk and uncertainty are an inherent part of policy-making, and managing risk and the unknown is central to what modern governments do (Clapton, 2011;Colfer, 2020a;Versluis et al, 2019). Especially during crises, the functioning of governing institutions is tested and policy-makers must often make complex judgments with imperfect information, under great uncertainty, time pressure, and heightened levels of scrutiny (Malandrino & Demichelis, 2020;Svedin, 2011).…”