scholarly journals National and Sub-National Social Distancing Responses to COVID-19

Economies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Terrence Iverson ◽  
Edward Barbier
Keyword(s):  
National Policy ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
Policy Choice ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Efficient Control ◽  
National Governments

We examine the effectiveness of sub-national actions to control a novel disease, such as COVID-19, in the absence of national policy. Evidence shows that countries where sub-national governments have undertaken unilateral social distancing measures to combat the pandemic with little or no coordination have performed less well in controlling the spread of the disease. We explore analytically whether agreement on a common social distancing policy among sub-national governments, i.e., states or provinces, can lead to a better outcome than if each state or province pursues its own social distancing policy in isolation. A key feature of our model is that it accounts for the inter-jurisdictional spillover effects of each sub-national jurisdiction’s policy choice with respect to social distancing. Our results show that, in the absence of a national mandatory agreement, a sub-national agreement with sufficient coordination of social distancing policy among states yields a more effective and efficient control of a pandemic compared to states choosing policy unilaterally. These findings strongly support calls for greater cooperation among and assistance for sub-national governments to improve the effectiveness of their social distancing efforts in controlling the pandemic.

scholarly journals An Internet of Things Approach to Contact Tracing—The BubbleBox System

Information ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Polenta ◽  
Pietro Rignanese ◽  
Paolo Sernani ◽  
Nicola Falcionelli ◽  
Dagmawi Neway Mekuria ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Internet Of Things ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Prototype Implementation ◽  
Privacy Concerns ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Infected People ◽  
Containment Measures ◽  
Pros And Cons ◽  
National Governments

The COVID-19 pandemic exploded at the beginning of 2020, with over four million cases in five months, overwhelming the healthcare sector. Several national governments decided to adopt containment measures, such as lockdowns, social distancing, and quarantine. Among these measures, contact tracing can contribute in bringing under control the outbreak, as quickly identifying contacts to isolate suspected cases can limit the number of infected people. In this paper we present BubbleBox, a system relying on a dedicated device to perform contact tracing. BubbleBox integrates Internet of Things and software technologies into different components to achieve its goal—providing a tool to quickly react to further outbreaks, by allowing health operators to rapidly reach and test possible infected people. This paper describes the BubbleBox architecture, presents its prototype implementation, and discusses its pros and cons, also dealing with privacy concerns.

Current School Reforms in Transnational Policy Landscapes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ninni Wahlstrom
Keyword(s):  
International Student ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
National Policy ◽  
International Standards ◽  
School Reforms ◽  
International Student Assessment ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Discursive Power ◽  
Policy Proposals

The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) and its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) play an important role in forming transnational education policy. Based on the results of the PISA measurements and other evaluations, the OECD can claim that its policy proposals are evidence based and in accordance with international standards. There is growing interest from the national governments to adapt their national policy strategies to these international standards. However, the translation from the transnational to national policy is a complex process, whereby the national receivers of the policy are selective regarding the policy elements they borrow from those who create and influence transnational policy. Thus, discursive power regarding transnational policy can be understood as power through ideas, making national reforms similar but not identical, and promoting incremental or imperceptible reforms.

Governing EU employment policy: does collaborative governance scale up?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Sørensen ◽  
Peter Triantafillou ◽  
Bodil Damgaard
Keyword(s):  
Scale Up ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Collaborative Governance ◽  
Collaborative Effort ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Employment Policy ◽  
Implementation Phase ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Coordination And Collaboration

In the European Union (EU), employment policy is a prerogative of the member states. Therefore the EU’s ability to govern in this area depends on its capability to involve national governments and relevant stakeholders in a collaborative effort to formulate and implement shared policy objectives. Drawing an analytical distinction between cooperation, coordination and collaboration, the chapter analyses the formulation and implementation of EU employment policies. It concludes that while the formulation of policy objectives and the discussion of national policy approaches do involve elements of collaboration, the implementation phase mainly consists in the less demanding forms of cooperation and coordination.

scholarly journals Post-corona World: Balancing International Cooperation and National Sovereignty

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 10-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ch. Stückelberger
Keyword(s):  
International Cooperation ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
National Policy ◽  
National Sovereignty ◽  
International Telecommunication Union ◽  
International Telecommunication ◽  
Ethical Concept ◽  
Global Threat ◽  
National Governments

Introduction. National governments play a key role in the Covid-19 Pandemic as they have to lead the national policy, under emergency law. This is the opposite of the globalization boom since the 1990s after the end of the bi-polar world, where many predicted and expected that national governments will no more be important as the global economy will be run by international companies and globalized markets. What is in the post-corona world the relation between national sovereignty and international cooperation? How much cooperation is needed just under the global threat of the pandemic?Materials and methods. This article is based on my presentation at the MGIMO International Conference on 25 May on “Pandemic as a motor of transformation» and on an extensive research over several years on the ethical concept of balancing opposite values, under the term Globalance [3], and applying this concept to thirty sectors of society, in the perspective of the experiences and new realities after the Covid-19 pandemic. The method is classical ethical decision making [See: 4] with a combination of collecting empirical data from social sciences (here only few) and normative orientation on fundamental values, based on philosophical and theological ethical concepts and principles (justifications not elaborated in detail in the article).Study results. The study focusses on the two values freedom and solidarity as value-poles with the ethical goal to show their relationality and balance them. These two values are applied to the poles of international cooperation and national sovereignty.Сonclusion. The Covid-19 pandemic shows the importance of sovereign national governments in handling such a pandemic within its territory and its shows the crucial global cooperation and strong respective multilateral institutions and mechanisms such as the WHO, but also ILO, UNCTAD, migration and refugees organisations, International Telecommunication Union ITU and financial institutions such as IMF and World Bank. A key aspect of Globalance is also the balance between national cybersovereignty and international cooperation for cybersecurity by fighting cybercrime.   

scholarly journals COVID 19: Compliance, Deviances, Social Control and Contagion Risks during the Lockdown. The Results of a Research in Two EU Countries (Italy and Romania)

2021 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 75-90
Author(s):  
Nicola MALIZIA ◽  
Gianmarco CIFALDI ◽  
Ionut SERBAN ◽  
Adrian-Nicolae DAN
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
General Principle ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Deviant Behaviors ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
External Circumstance ◽  
Significant Change ◽  
National Governments

The pandemic spread caused by the Covid 19 virus and the consequent risk of contagion has recently forced most national governments to adopt drastic measures of social control and containment, such as social distancing, which has led to a significant change in the lives and habits of citizens, which in turn pushed people to adapt to a changed external circumstance. This adaptation, which translates sociologically and substantially into a request for compliance with the prescriptions, had in many cases captured oppositional reactions through individual and group deviant behaviors, which, in addition to breaking the rules of a community, have contributed to the violation of that general principle of “mutual altruism” that should characterize modern societies and increase the viral contagion. The conducted research has explored the risks of contagion from Covid 19 regarding compliant or deviant conducts of behavior with reference to the lockdown requirements in the first half of 2020.

scholarly journals Modelling exit strategies for the UK Covid-19 lockdown with revised mortality data

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony D. Lander ◽  
Thejasvi Subramanian
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Mortality Data ◽  
Daily Mortality ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
The Public ◽  
Hospital Deaths ◽  
Historic Data ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Second Wave

The number of daily deaths, reported by Public Health England (PHE) during the UK Covid-19 epidemic, initially omitted out-of-hospital deaths in England. The epidemic has been mitigated by social distancing and the lockdown introduced on 17 and 23 March 2020 respectively. We recently reported a stochastic model of a mitigated epidemic which incorporated changes in social interactions and daily movements and whose simulations were consistent with the initial PHE daily mortality data. However, on 29 April, PHE revised their historic data to include out-of-hospital deaths in England. Out-of-hospital deaths occur sooner than in-hospital deaths. Here we show that if 20% of deaths, representing out-of-hospital deaths, are assigned a shorter illness period, then simulated daily mortality matches the revised PHE mortality at least until 4 May. We now predict that if the lockdown is gently relaxed in late May, whilst maintaining social distancing, there would be a modest second-wave which may be acceptable when weighed against the risks of maintaining the lockdown. Our model complements other more sophisticated work currently guiding national policy but which is not presently in the public domain.

The Impact of the European Communities on National Policy‐Making

1971 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 520-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen S. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Full Range ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Community System ◽  
Political Configuration ◽  
National Perspective ◽  
National Governments ◽  
The Impact

THE NOW FAIRLY EXTENSIVE LITERATURE ON THE EUROPEAN Communities, much of which sets out to analyse ‘the European decision-making process’, has tended to concentrate on how this process looks from the perspective of the Community itself and of its institutions. National governments and actors in the six political systems have been discussed primarily in so far as they are participants in the Community system. However, if we are to reach an understanding of the impact of the Communities on national processes, then some attention must be given to how the Communities are viewed from the national capitals, to the extent to which Community business impinges on the governmental systems in the member states and to the importance given to European matters among the competing issues which vie for prominence in national politics. Any analysis of the politics of European integration which looks from the Communities outwards makes the assumption that European issues are the only ones that count; but if those same issues are examined from a national perspective, we need to ask whether they represent simply one bundle of issues among many, or whether they have come to add a new dimension to the full range of governmental business and political debate. In other words, has the advent of the European Communities changed the political configuration of the six national systems, and, if so, marginally or fundamentally?

scholarly journals To Be Friends, Not Competitors: A Story Different from Tesla Driving the Chinese Automobile Industry

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 491-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Jiang ◽  
Feng Lu
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property Rights ◽  
Automobile Industry ◽  
Technology Policy ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Science And Technology Policy ◽  
Manufacturing Industries ◽  
Policy Choice ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Chinese Automobile Industry ◽  
China's Automobile Industry

This interview contributes to the conversation around the automobile industry by focusing on the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) sector. Both of the discussants’ research interests encompass China's industrial competitiveness, innovation, science and technology policy, and the evolution of Chinese manufacturing industries. Professor Feng Lu, the interviewee, has conducted continuous and substantial fieldwork tracing the development of the Chinese automobile industry. He was one of the first experts to urge the Chinese government to help local automobile manufacturers develop innovation capabilities and proprietary products. Further, his 2005 book, The Policy Choice to Develop China's Automobile Industry with Independent Intellectual Property Rights, profoundly influenced the national policy transition toward emphasizing in-house innovation.

Place and Chips: Virtual Communities, Governance and the Environment

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Smith
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Global State ◽  
Ability To Act ◽  
Communications Technologies ◽  
Inclusive Approach ◽  
Policy Decision Making ◽  
National Governments

This article examines the significance of virtual communities whose formation has been facilitated by advances in communications technologies. This involves discussing the evolving role and autonomy of national governments in relation to processes of globalization, set within the context of the challenges faced by governments to coordinate global responses to environmental degradation. The Principality of Sealand, the Global State of Waveland and the Dominion of Melchizedek are discussed. It is argued that it is less their claims to state-hood that is significant but rather the ability to act autonomously that they represent. Governance is considered as a process that extends beyond national policy decision-making. This more inclusive approach pays more attention to both civil society and, in relation to advances in telecommunications, the methods various actors utilize to further their agendas.

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