What the World has Learned About Their Governments During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

As we take stock of all aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic history, one important lesson to be learned concerns government behavior. While defense by immunity was in the works in vaccine research labs, defense by government action took the front seat, and political incumbents in every country and locale became "doctors to the public.” Did some governments perform better than others? Were there any predictable or explainable shortcomings in their crisis responses? Will governments and countries that underperformed in this crisis fall short in other crises where responsible leadership might be required? The contributors to this volume compare and contrast what governments around the world did and did not do when they were called upon to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the synchronicity of the threat and all governments’ initially similar helplessness in the face of the virus, their actions differed greatly around the world. The speed of the responses also varied from country to country, even when we account for the variable time frames on which the virus was initially detected. Importantly, the stringency of the enacted nonmedical interventions (NMIs) varied significantly as well. Arguably, these differences at least partially determined the variation in health outcomes seen in different countries.