Policy Responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic: An International Comparative Approach

This book examines why and how different countries developed different policy positions and responses to the COVID‑19 pandemic, particularly in the early phase, by surveying a sample of countries that are geographically, politically, and culturally diverse, particularly those representing the East and the West.

Exploring nine countries, namely four Western countries (Finland, Germany, United States, and Sweden) and five Asia‑Pacific countries (Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam), contributors to this comprehensive new book compare and contrast similarities and differences in political systems, (de)centralization, policy responses, citizen engagement, and other factors. Written by experts on public policy within each of the counties explored, the chapters investigate how policy responses may be linked to the spread of the virus and fatalities in each location, drawing lessons from those experiences. Coercive tools (border control, school closure, movement constraints), incentive tools (emergency assistance, economic boosting assistance), and informative and facilitative tools (public information campaigns for social distancing, mask wearing) are all explored. In addition to policy responses, other contributing factors are carefully weighed, including national health care systems, applications of digital technology, institutional arrangements and governance systems, and political and civic culture.

This book is required reading for undergraduate and graduate students interested in comparative public policy and public governance, as well as policy‑makers, government officials, and nonprofit workers in both developed and developing countries.

M. Jae Moon is Underwood Distinguished Professor of Public Administration as well as Director of the Institute for Future Government at Yonsei University, South Korea. He was the former Dean of the College of Social Sciences, Yonsei University, South Korea. He has been co‑chairing the Infectious Disease Study Group of the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities, and Social Sciences under the Prime Minister’s Office. He is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA). He served as International Director of the American Society for Public Administration and Vice President of the Korean Association of Public Administration as well as the Korean Association of Policy Studies. He was selected as one of world’s 100 most influential people in Digital Government 2018 and 2019 consecutively by Apolitical, which is a London‑based leading nonprofit organization. He also received Order of Service Merit‑Red Stripe from the Government of the Republic of Korea for his contribution to the public sector innovations as well as the Donald C. Stone Award from the American Society for Public Administration in 2020.

Dong‑Young Kim is Associate Professor and Director of the Master’s in Development Policy program at the KDI School of Public Policy and Management, South Korea. His research interests include theory and practice of public dispute resolution and negotiation in developing countries, participatory and collaborative governance, and environmental policy and sustainable development. Dr. Kim has 15 years of experience as a lecturer, researcher, and trainer on public dispute resolution, consensus building, negotiation, and participatory governance. He has extensive experience in training mid‑career and senior government officials from many developing countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East and in consulting various government institutions, such as the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Environment, and the Ministry of Public Health and Welfare, public corporations, such as Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), private sectors, such as Nong‑Hyup, Citi Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, and Pfizer Korea, and non‑governmental organizations in Korea.