myAIPMLeading in a crisis: How to learn from others
Allan McConnell (University of Sydney), Eric K. Stern (University at Albany (SUNY)), Arjen Boin, ANZSOG
The key challenge: learning on the fly
"The devastating COVID-19 outbreak has created a new and common challenge for many governments: how to plan and implement a safe transition from lockdown conditions and reopen societies and economies. Jurisdictions are operating on their own, often with widely varying timelines. Some are still in the midst of the crisis, some are preparing to exit and some have already done just that. While some countries have never been formally locked down. These varying timelines and approaches collectively constitute a rich experience catalogue, but they also share the common purpose of finding a viable path back to normality.
Authorities have a unique opportunity to learn from the experiences of others, avoiding pitfalls and failures, finding solutions and adopting practices that work.
In the COVID-19 crisis, cross-jurisdictional learning may yield valuable lessons including:
- General strategic approaches: enforced comprehensive lockdown (China, New York and many other states in the US), versus selective measures relying primarily on citizen voluntary action (Sweden)
- Procurement strategies and coordination mechanisms
- Strategy, process and techniques for testing and tracing (national versus localised criteria for testing, pop-up testing labs, drive-thru testing labs, contact tracing through mobile phone apps)
- Healthcare organisation, resources and capacity building (emergency building of new hospitals, for example: Wuhan, London; fast-tracking of new doctor/nurse recruits)
- Stimulus and welfare packages (salary top-ups, welfare bonuses, tax breaks, bailouts for key industries)
- Restrictions and closing down/opening up economies (comprehensive proactive shutdown versus targeted incremental closing/opening).
Learning from the COVID-19 experiences of others seems like an undeniably good idea. In the words of the late Aaron Wildavsky: “learning is a golden concept – everyone is for it”.
But policy learning is always more difficult than it might appear. Times of crisis produce special challenges (not least because the stakes are high, time is of the essence and uncertainty reigns). The response of every jurisdiction is multi-faceted, and encompasses everything from the strategic values they pursue and narratives they commmunicate, to the policy instruments and regulations they deploy."
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Allan McConnell (University of Sydney), Eric K. Stern (University at Albany (SUNY)), Arjen Boin, ANZSOG, 2020