I Do it My Way: Understanding Policy Variation in Pandemic Response Across Europe

Abstract

To contain the spread of the COVID-19, governments have designed and implemented a large range of exceptional measures. Yet, the restrictive nature of the policy options chosen and the severity of their enforcement mechanisms considerably vary across countries. Focusing on the case of the European Union—a group of closely connected nations which develop some forms of supranational policy coordination to manage the pandemic—, we first map the diversity of policy responses taken using two original indicators: the stringency and scope of freedom limitations and the depth of control used in their enforcement. Second, we elaborate three theoretical scenarios to explain cross-national variation in pandemic policy-making. Our exploratory results—based on bivariate statistical associations—reveal that structural determinants (the level of political and interpersonal trust, a country’s overall resources, democratic experience and, to a lesser extent, political check and balances) shape crisis policy-making more than crisis-related factors such as the magnitude of the crisis at stake. These results call for further research into the determinants of crisis policy-making that we propose to address with a new research project focusing on the modalities, determinants and impacts of exceptional decision making in times of COVID-19.

Exploring the relationship between national governance indicators and speed of initial government response to COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries

“…One explanation could be that countries with lower political stability have more experience of crises; Capano et al have suggested that countries with previous experiences of crises may have greater awareness of their own capacities and are therefore more likely to respond earlier [ 22 ]. Less politically stable countries may have also had other characteristics discussed in the literature as favouring a quicker initial response, such as fewer veto players or a more autocratic leadership style [ 42 , 43 ].…”

The Nordic governments' responses to the Covid‐19 pandemic: A comparative study of variation in governance arrangements and regulatory instruments

“…It also adds to the findings of Egger et al (2021) because substantial variation in responses between equally affluent states characterized by high levels of health spending and public trust is observed. Future studies should leverage the insights that most similar states in terms of the structural features identified by respectively Egger et al (2021) and Greer et al (2021) can exhibit variation in their responses due to dissimilarities in governance arrangements and levels of politicization.…”

“…The comparative empirical literature on explanatory variables that impact Covid‐19 policy outcomes is rapidly growing (e.g., Egger et al, 2021; Goetz et al, 2021; Greer et al, 2021; Lynggaard et al, 2022; McConnell & Stark, 2021; Zahariadis et al, 2022). By contrast scholarship on how within‐country differences affect variations in national responses to the pandemic is scarce.…”

Achieving Spread, Scale Up and Sustainability of Video Consulting Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic? Findings From a Comparative Case Study of Policy Implementation in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

“…The approach to policy implementation and crisis management in each of the four nations was key in rapidly spreading and scaling up video consulting. To date, research has tended to focus on the political and institutional context of policy making at a time of crisis or on strategic crisis management [see e.g., (124,125)]. Our research adds to this growing body of work, foregrounding approaches to crisis management that are informed by complex systems thinking and notions of unpredictability, radical uncertainty, nonlinearity, and adaptability (60,61,63,126); and effective implementation of policy as involving pragmatic and iterative cycles of sense-making, meaning making and learning-whiledoing (33,34,75).…”