TY - JOUR
T1 - The Covid-19 pandemic
T2 - Collective action and European public policy under stress
AU - Kovac, Mitja
AU - Elkanawati, Amira
AU - Gjikolli, Vita
AU - Vandenberghe, Ann Sophie
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Sciendo. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/10/2
Y1 - 2020/10/2
N2 - The European continent faces an apocalyptic pandemic that poses mortal danger to millions of citizens. This paper seeks to address the role played by European public policy in addressing the Covid-19 pandemic. Currently, each Member State across Europe is applying its own measures to deal with the coronavirus; namely, decentralised decision-making that could trigger political tensions among the states. The paper argues that European public policy must change rapidly and fundamentally if these tensions are to be successfully managed; otherwise, such policy might simply cease to exist. Moreover, the known and notorious problem of collective action, information asymmetries, irrationality, negative externalities and the related free-riding phenomenon persistently are distorting the Member States’ combined efforts, resulting in deficient attempts to contain the spread of Covid-19. The paper also argues that the current unprecedented outbreak of this superspreading virus calls for a bigger EU-wide coordinated response. We argue that the Covid-19 pandemic is a good example of an area in which the central EU level holds a comparative advantage over lower levels of government. In addition, the paper offers several substantive insights into ways to improve the public policy response in the ‘war’ against Covid-19.
AB - The European continent faces an apocalyptic pandemic that poses mortal danger to millions of citizens. This paper seeks to address the role played by European public policy in addressing the Covid-19 pandemic. Currently, each Member State across Europe is applying its own measures to deal with the coronavirus; namely, decentralised decision-making that could trigger political tensions among the states. The paper argues that European public policy must change rapidly and fundamentally if these tensions are to be successfully managed; otherwise, such policy might simply cease to exist. Moreover, the known and notorious problem of collective action, information asymmetries, irrationality, negative externalities and the related free-riding phenomenon persistently are distorting the Member States’ combined efforts, resulting in deficient attempts to contain the spread of Covid-19. The paper also argues that the current unprecedented outbreak of this superspreading virus calls for a bigger EU-wide coordinated response. We argue that the Covid-19 pandemic is a good example of an area in which the central EU level holds a comparative advantage over lower levels of government. In addition, the paper offers several substantive insights into ways to improve the public policy response in the ‘war’ against Covid-19.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85094602658&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2478/cejpp-2020-0005
DO - 10.2478/cejpp-2020-0005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85094602658
VL - 14
SP - 47
EP - 59
JO - Central European Journal of Public Policy
JF - Central European Journal of Public Policy
SN - 1802-4866
IS - 2
ER -