Precaution and proportionality in pandemic politics: democracy, state capacity, and COVID-19-related school closures around the world

Cronert, Axel

doi:10.1017/s0143814x22000101

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…These two variables are country‐level aggregated measures of two dimensions of Weberian bureaucracy focusing on the personnel system. These two measures, including with slight modifications, have been widely used in previous studies (Cooper, 2022; Cronert, 2022; Dahlström et al., 2012). Politicization measures the degree to which the recruitment and promotion systems of public officials are influenced by political interference.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Politicization, bureaucratic closedness in personnel policy, and turnover intention

Suzuki,

Hur

2023

Governance

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Previous studies have identified individual and organizational factors that influence the turnover intentions of bureaucrats. However, they have overlooked how the type of national bureaucracy influences turnover intention. Combining data sets on macro‐level bureaucratic structures and individual civil servants, we examine how bureaucratic politicization and closedness are associated with the turnover intentions of bureaucrats in 36 countries. Our analysis indicates that there is large cross‐national variation in turnover intention, and that bureaucratic structures matter as one of the predictors of turnover intention. Public servants working in more closed and regulated bureaucracies exhibit lower turnover intention. We also find that public servants working in more politicized bureaucracies (in which personnel decisions are made via political connections) have lower turnover intention than those working in more merit‐based systems. Such low turnover intention in politicized bureaucracies may be explained by the characteristics of patronage appointments in which public jobs are distributed based on personal or political loyalty.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Politicization, bureaucratic closedness in personnel policy, and turnover intention

Suzuki,

Hur

2023

Governance

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“…First, we argue that multiple embeddedness yields more nuanced or “proportional” recommendations relative to insulated PHAs (Cronert, 2022). In addition to weighing a broader array of social risks such as employment, mental health, and education (Toshkov et al, 2022), embedded infectious disease authorities are more likely to internalize consensual norms, favoring balanced, middle‐of‐the‐road solutions that avoid coercion.…”

Section: Follow the Science: Uncertainty And The Limits Of Expertisementioning

confidence: 99%

Follow the science: The European public health community confronts the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic

Kurzer

Ornston

2023

European Policy Analysis

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This paper argues that "following the science" is not always the best strategy. It does so by examining the first phase of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in three countries: Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden. All three countries possessed highly respected infectious disease agencies with wide stakeholder involvement. Despite this, Danish, Dutch, and Swedish public health agencies underplayed the threat of the COVID-19 virus, discouraged intrusive mitigation measures, and were slow to admit their mistakes. Countries that trusted their national agencies, specifically the Netherlands and Sweden, witnessed higher mortality. By contrast, the Danish government marginalized its epidemiologists and suppressed the spread of the virus. The paper thus demonstrates the limits of trusting national scientific expertise, even when properly embedded within social networks, during periods of heightened uncertainty.

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“…The decision-making process regarding school closures was influenced by institutional systems and political orientations. For example, democratic countries tended to implement school closures quicker than those under more authoritarian regimes (Cronert, 2022). In addition, countries with higher governmental effectiveness tended to take longer than those with less effective state apparatuses (Cronert, 2022;Harris & Oliver, 2021).…”

Section: International Variation In Duration Of School Closuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

School Closure Policies and Student Reading Achievement: Evidence Across Countries

Kennedy¹,

Strietholt²

2023

Preprint

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The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted education worldwide as educational systems made the decision to close schools to contain the spread of the virus. The duration of school closures varied greatly internationally. In this study, we use international variation in school closure policies to examine the effects of school closures on student achievement. Specifically, we use representative trend data from more than 300,000 students in 29 countries to examine whether the length of school closures is related to changes in student achievement before and after the outbreak of COVID-19. We observe a significant and substantial negative effect of school closures on student reading achievement. The estimated effect implies that a year of school closures corresponds roughly to the loss of a little more than half a school year of learning. This effect is even more pronounced for socioeconomically disadvantaged students and those without home computer access.

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Precaution and proportionality in pandemic politics: democracy, state capacity, and COVID-19-related school closures around the world

Cited by 11 publications

References 65 publications

Politicization, bureaucratic closedness in personnel policy, and turnover intention

Politicization, bureaucratic closedness in personnel policy, and turnover intention

Follow the science: The European public health community confronts the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic

School Closure Policies and Student Reading Achievement: Evidence Across Countries

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