Performing Crisis Management: National Repertoires of Symbolic Action and Their Usage during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Europe

2021 ◽  
pp. 003232172110583
Author(s):  
Laurie Boussaguet ◽  
Florence Faucher ◽  
Christian Freudlsperger
Keyword(s):  
Crisis Management ◽  
Significant Variation ◽  
Simultaneous Occurrence ◽  
Symbolic Action ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Action ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Emotional Work ◽  
National Leaders

The role of the symbolic is often overlooked in the public policy literature. Yet, it is a key component of public action, particularly in crisis management. During the Covid-19 pandemic, all democratic states needed to carry out cognitive and emotional work to persuade their citizens to show solidarity and comply with heavy restrictions. The near-simultaneous occurrence of the pandemic’s first wave (March–May 2020) allows us to compare the patterns of symbolic crisis management across four European countries (France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom). Our analysis finds significant variation in governments’ usage of the symbolic. We analyse leaders’ performances (wordcraft and stagecraft) as they try to reassure citizens, unite the nation, and legitimise themselves and their decisions. Our article shows not only that national leaders pay great attention to the symbolic in the management of crises, but also that their performances differ systematically in line with their personas and distinct national political cultures.

A Problem Shared? The Role of the Public in the Legitimation of Policy: A Case Study of Gendered Welfare Change in the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Richards-Gray
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
The Public ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Disadvantaged Women ◽  
Welfare Change

Abstract This article argues that shared problematizations—shared political and public ways of thinking—legitimize policies and their outcomes. To support this argument, it examines the legitimation of gendered welfare reform in the recent U.K. context. Drawing on focus groups with the public, it provides evidence that the public’s problematization of welfare, specifically that reform was necessary to “make work pay” and “restore fairness”, aligned with that of politicians. It argues that the assumptions and silences underpinning this shared problematization, especially silences relating to the value and necessity of care, have allowed for welfare policies that have disadvantaged women.

The Northern Ireland Civil Service under Direct Rule and Devolution

2003 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Carmichael ◽  
Robert Osborne
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
The Public ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Asymmetrical Pattern ◽  
Key Characteristics

Although the United Kingdom is usually regarded as a unitary state in the mould of the Westminster model, in reality, complete political integration and administrative standardization have never existed. Recent political devolution consolidates an increasingly diverse and asymmetrical pattern of territorial governance. Frequently, however, notwithstanding some notable exceptions, this differentiation within the UK's governmental arrangements is overlooked in much of the literature. To help correct this oversight, this article reports on the longstanding differences in the public administration arrangements of one of the UK's smaller component countries, Northern Ireland. Specifically, the article focuses on the role of the Northern Ireland Civil Service and charts some of the key characteristics and trends that have emerged under both the period of Direct Rule from London (since the end of the Stormont devolution in 1972) and in the newly-restored devolved settlement that was introduced in 1999, following the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement.

scholarly journals Public agents of front line: the creator of administrative law

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliana Bonacorsi de Palma
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
Front Line ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Action ◽  
Street Level ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats

<span>Abstract: The role of the front-line public agents in the implementation of the public policies created by the first-tier is the subject addressed by the author. From the notion of street-level bureaucrats, it seeks to identify the difficulties encountered by such public agents in decision-making and the need for standards that provide for institutes and administrative dynamics that in fact lead to more efficient, impersonal and guaranteeing public action to protect the well-intentioned front-line public agent to fully exercise the discretion he needs in case-by-case action.</span>

scholarly journals "Supplying the Public with a Comprehensive Telegraph System": Switzerland and Telegraphic Communication, 1860-1915

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Wenzlhuemer
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Global Networks ◽  
The Public ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Shed Light

Historical research has recently discovered its interest in the study of transregional and global networks of communication and their significance for the so-called “shrinking of the world”. In this context, the emergence and the role of a global telegraph network since the middle of the nineteenth century has started to attract scholarly attention. The foundations of this network have mostly been laid by actors from the United Kingdom, the United States, and other important colonial powers. The role of smaller European or non-European states and their position in the emerging global network has rarely been examined. Switzerland usually only enters this discussion as the host of the International Telegraph Union (ITU), which played a decisive role in the development of international telegraphic standards. However, Switzerland’s role within the network and the ways Swiss actors made use of telegraphic communication during the nineteenth century have not been studied so far. This study seeks to fill this gap by examining the development of telegraphy in Switzerland as well as the position of the country within a wider European and global communication network. It looks at a number of markers regarding telegraphic development in Switzerland, both from a structural and from a use perspective. The overall goal is to test how well-developed the Swiss telegraph network was during the period of observation and how the country compares to other European (and some non-European) countries. It aims to shed light on how Switzerland was structurally integrated into a wider European and global network, and on how intensively the existing infrastructure was put to use. Furthermore, the study aims to reveal what other countries across the globe the Swiss chose to communicate with telegraphically.

Public Opinion and the Democratic Peace

2013 ◽  
Vol 107 (4) ◽  
pp. 849-865 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL R. TOMZ ◽  
JESSICA L. P. WEEKS
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Democratic Peace ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Public Opinion Polls ◽  
Opinion Polls ◽  
Shed Light

One of the most striking findings in political science is the democratic peace: the absence of war between democracies. Some authors attempt to explain this phenomenon by highlighting the role of public opinion. They observe that democratic leaders are beholden to voters and argue that voters oppose war because of its human and financial costs. This logic predicts that democracies should behave peacefully in general, but history shows that democracies avoid war primarily in their relations with other democracies. In this article we investigate not whether democratic publics are averse to war in general, but whether they are especially reluctant to fight other democracies. We embedded experiments in public opinion polls in the United States and the United Kingdom and found that individuals are substantially less supportive of military strikes against democracies than against otherwise identical autocracies. Moreover, our experiments suggest that shared democracy pacifies the public primarily by changing perceptions of threat and morality, not by raising expectations of costs or failure. These findings shed light on a debate of enduring importance to scholars and policy makers.

scholarly journals A rendőrség kommunikációja a 2016-os budapesti robbantás kapcsán: az átmeneti nyilatkozat jelentősége a krízismenedzsmentben

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Dániel Gergő Pintér
Keyword(s):  
Crisis Management ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Crisis Communication ◽  
Communication Process ◽  
User Generated Content ◽  
Management Process ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
The Public ◽  
Police Forces

Jelen tanulmány a válságmenedzseri szakma protokolljának fényében vizsgálja a magyar rendőrség kommunikációját a 2016-os budapesti robbantás kapcsán. A cikk során kiemelt hangsúlyt fektetek az első reakcióig eltelt időre és az úgynevezett átmeneti nyilatkozat fontosságára, mely nemcsak meggátolhatja a válságszituáció problémakörének tágítását, de az érdemi tájékoztatásig nyilvános igazodási pontot is adhat. Amellett érvelek, hogy kemény válságok esetén a hivatalos álláspont ismertetésének késlekedése információs deficitet okozhat és a krízisnyilvánosság más, kevésbé hiteles források felé fordulását eredményezheti. A következőkben sorba veszem a válságok kirobbanását követő, kritikus 24 óra tipikus kísérőjelenségeit, majd részletesen bemutatom, hogy ezek mennyiben tehetik intenzívebbé a krízist. A tanulmány tézise szerint a sikeres válságkommunikáció 1. a média torzításaival és 2. a tömegben artikulálódó magánemberek szavával, vagyis a felhasználók által generált tartalmakkal és a potenciális összeesküvés-elméletekkel ugyanúgy kalkulál, mint egy kompetens szakértő nyilatkozatával, hiszen ezek a tartalmak a közösségi média közvetítésével akár tömegeket befolyásolhatnak. --- The Communication of the Hungarian Police Forces on the Bombing in Budapest in 2016: the Role of First Official Reaction in Crisis Management The explosion in Budapest occurred on 24 September 2016 when a young man detonated a nail bomb with the intention of killing two patrolling police officers. This article analyses the official communication of the Hungarian Police Forces focusing on the ellapsed time until their first official reaction. I argue that the first 24 hours after such detonations are the most crucial, so working with speed and efficiency is important and the crisis communication process should be accurate as well as transparent. According to my thesis a successful crisis management process takes into consideration not only the bias of the mass media, but also the influence of user generated content and conspiracy theories. The application of a holding statement is essential to my analysis, which is designed to help control the message the public will hear immediately following an incident.

scholarly journals Resilience Endangered: The Role of Regional Airports in Remote Areas in Sweden

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
pp. 167
Author(s):  
Christine Große ◽  
Pär M. Olausson ◽  
Bo Svensson
Keyword(s):  
Crisis Management ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Civil Defense ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Crisis Preparedness ◽  
The Public ◽  
Probation Service ◽  
Regional Airports

This paper examines the role of regional airports in regional and municipal crisis preparedness based on evidence from a case study in Sweden. During the summer of 2018, Sweden experienced some of the most extensive wildfires in modern time. Aerial suppression, for which airports provided the essential preconditions, played an important role in extinguishing these fires. This study includes analyses of public policies that shape the Swedish airport system as well as evidence from interviews and a workshop with stakeholders. The results show that an efficiently operated network of regional airports is critical not only for crisis management but also to ensure important societal services such as health care in sparsely inhabited regions. Moreover, access to quick transportation by air is necessary for the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, tourism industry, public institutions and private businesses. Additionally intensified by effects of both the public debate on flight shame and the COVID-19 pandemic on air-based transportation, the insights arising from this study emphasise that the currently one-sided focus on the number of passengers is an insufficient foundation for the Swedish airport system to construct a resilient base for regional development, crisis management and civil defense.

Fish Fight

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renira Rampazzo Gambarato ◽  
Sergei Andreevich Medvedev
Keyword(s):  
The European Union ◽  
Quota System ◽  
Fish Stocks ◽  
The Public ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Raising Awareness ◽  
Fisheries Policy ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Effective Role

The 2010–2013 Fish Fight campaign, produced by Channel 4 in the United Kingdom and hosted by chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, is a transmedia experience designed to (1) draw the public's attention to the reckless discarding of caught fish because of the quota system intended to conserve fish stocks in the domain of the European Union; and to (2) pressure the authorities to change the European Common Fisheries Policy. The article analyzes the transmedia strategies of the Fish Fight campaign in order to demonstrate how the multiplatform media production contributed to (1) make the public aware of the wasteful discarding of healthy fish at sea under the European fishing quotas; and (2) to amend the European Union's fishing policies. The research findings point to the effective role of transmedia storytelling strategies in raising awareness in the political sphere through public participation in supporting relevant issues, influencing policy change.

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