TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kuhlmann, Sabine
A1  - Hellstrom, Mikael
A1  - Ramberg, Ulf
A1  - Reiter, Renate
T1  - Tracing divergence in crisis governance
BT  - responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in France, Germany and Sweden compared
JF  - International review of administrative sciences : an international journal of comparative public administration
N2  - This cross-country comparison of administrative responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in France, Germany and Sweden is aimed at exploring how institutional contexts and administrative cultures have shaped strategies of problem-solving and governance modes during the pandemic, and to what extent the crisis has been used for opportunity management. The article shows that in France, the central government reacted determinedly and hierarchically, with tough containment measures. By contrast, the response in Germany was characterized by an initial bottom-up approach that gave way to remarkable federal unity in the further course of the crisis, followed again by a return to regional variance and local discretion. In Sweden, there was a continuation of 'normal governance' and a strategy of relying on voluntary compliance largely based on recommendations and less - as in Germany and France - on a strategy of imposing legally binding regulations. The comparative analysis also reveals that relevant stakeholders in all three countries have used the crisis as an opportunity for changes in the institutional settings and administrative procedures.

Points for practitioners
COVID-19 has shown that national political and administrative standard operating procedures in preparation for crises are, at best, partially helpful. Notwithstanding the fact that dealing with the unpredictable is a necessary part of crisis management, a need to further improve the institutional preparedness for pandemic crises in all three countries examined here has also become clear. This should be done particularly by way of shifting resources to the health and care sectors, strengthening the decentralized management of health emergencies, stocking and/or self-producing protection material, assessing the effects of crisis measures, and opening the scientific discourse to broader arenas of experts.
KW  - administrative culture
KW  - containment
KW  - crisis
KW  - governance
KW  - multi-level system
KW  - policy advice
KW  - public health
KW  - window of opportunity
Y1  - 2021
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852320979359
SN  - 0020-8523
SN  - 1461-7226
VL  - 87
IS  - 3
SP  - 556
EP  - 575
PB  - Sage Publ.
CY  - London
ER  -