McGill.CA / Peter MacKell Chair in Federalism

Federalism & the COVID-19 Pandemic - A compendium of (re)sources

Sources collected by the MacKell Chair team from May 2020 to March 2022.

NEW! Comparative Federalism and Covid-19: Combating the Pandemic

The Chair is happy to announce the publication of Nico Steytler (ed), Comparative Federalism and Covid-19: Combating the Pandemic (London: Routledge, 2021): With case studies from 19 federal countries, this collection explores the core elements of federalism that came to the fore in combatting the pandemic: the division of responsibilities (disaster management, health care, social welfare, and education), the need for centralisation, and intergovernmental relations and cooperation. The authors adopt a multidisciplinary approach to question whether federalism has been a help or a hindrance in tackling the pandemic. Johanne Poirier and Jessica Michelin contributed the chapter on Canada, which is entitled “Facing the Coronavirus Pandemic in the Canadian Federation: Reinforced dualism and muted cooperation?”.

On this page:
1. Blogs or websites dedicated to the pandemic and/or federalism
2. Podcasts / videos / conferences

3. Research projects and calls for papers
4. Specific federations

5. Comparing federations

New materials are added to top of each section/country. Please email relevant articles, links, etc. to federalism-covid19.law [at] mcgill.ca.

Last update: 17 March 2022.

This list was prepared by Mr. Atagün Kejanlioglu, DCL candidate, and Professor Johanne Poirier, Peter MacKell Chair in Federalism, Faculty of Law, McGill University. Our thanks to the Research Group on Plurinational Societies, the Law and You Seminars Fund and the Fasken Martineau Corporate and Social Responsibility Fund for their support.

1. Blogs or websites (partly) dedicated to the pandemic and/or federalism
Blogues et sites (partiellement) consacrés à la pandémie et/ou au fédéralisme

  • COVID-19 Provincial Politics: Since the beginning of the pandemic the Centre has developed and updates regularly an index to evaluate provincial responses. The Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation’s index captures seventeen different measures enacted by Canadian provincial governments including gathering sizes, masks, school closures, and travel restrictions. 
  • Lex-Atlas: Covid-19 (LAC19) project provides a scholarly report and analysis of national legal responses to Covid-19 around the world. There are nearly 200 jurists participating in the LAC19 network and who have contributed to writing national country reports. The project is motivated by the need for an integrated overview of national legal responses to Covid-19, focusing on the legal response to the pandemic with attention to its socio-political context.
  • Power and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Verfassungsblog is hosting a symposium on COVID-19 pandemic that brings together experts from over 70 countries to reflect on how legal and political systems have adapted to ongoing challenges presented by the pandemic to democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, and to offer recommendations on the future of good governance. Please visit the website for posts.
  • Law School Policy Review: This webinar series cum blog symposium – organized by the student wing of the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, the Kautilya Society, in partnership with the Young Scholars Initiative – aims to analyse key policy decisions have already been made by the governments, over the past weeks as the country wrestled with the pandemic. Indian federalism is one of the three main themes.
  • The COVID Comparative Project: The COVID Comparative Project at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy features 16 country case studies conducted by University of Toronto undergraduate students, under the supervision of Professor Joseph Wong. It includes articles from federal systems such as, Germany, Brazil, China, Canada, India, Italy , UK, and the US.
  • The Canadian Constitution Foundation has created a COVID-19 Watch section where it regularly publishes articles on policy responses by provincial governments and the Canadian government.
  • The Centre for Constitutional Studies (University of Alberta) launched a blog on Pandemic Powers and Constitution.
  • The PEX Network is publishing a compilation of articles from political scientists analyzing the response of the executives from all over the world. The series includes articles on the analysis of multi-level governance in Germany and the United States.
  • The Coronavirus Challenge to Governance in Canada: The School of Policy Studies of Queen’s University has established a Governance Working Group that publishes op-eds in the Ottawa Citizen. Please visit this story for more information on the working group and all the published articles.
  • The AUSPUBLAW Blog has a special series exploring the public law implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. These posts are written for the blog by a range of public law scholars and practitioners from across Australia.
  • IACL-AICC Blog: The IACL blog launched a Vlog Symposium called “Constitutional Reflections on the Pandemic.”
  • COVID Response – Birmingham University (SUNY): The lab’s website offers a focus on the role of democratic institutions generally, and among democracies – of the institutions of federalism in particular, in effecting policy responses during crises.
  • The Regulatory Review: This publication’s website includes a section dedicated to essays that discuss the administrative law and regulatory dimensions to the global response to COVID-19.
  • Canadian Journal of Political Science: The Journal regularly publishes accepted manuscripts and research notes on its website.
  • Centre for Civil and Political Rights: The Centre created a compilation based on the data on measures taken by States in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic that may influence the state's ability to ensure the rights and obligations protected by the ICCPR.
  • Institute for Government: The Institute’s website includes a page on UK Devolution and COVID-19.
  • La Chaire de recherche en fiscalité et en finances publiques à l’Université de Sherbrooke: Ce site web fait un suivi des mesures économiques gouvernementales découlant de la crise de la COVID-19 au Québec, au Canada et ailleurs dans le monde.
  • Hunton Andrews Kurth Complaint Tracker: The firm is offering a tracker that allows to see civil complaints in the US and its topic state by state.
  • Daniel Turp: Sur son site web, le prof. Turp publie régulièrement un recueil des décrets et arrêtés [.doc, version: 10 mai 2020] visant à protéger la santé de la population du Québec dans la situation de pandémie de la COVID-19.
  • Forum of Federations : two collections of articles on Pandemic responses in different federations: Federalism and COVID, and Devolution and COVID.
  • Cambridge Core Blog: blog series by Health Economics, Policy and Law on country responses to COVID-19. Includes blog posts on many countries including federal systems, but also about several constituent units within federal/quasi-federal systems, i.e. British Columbia (Canada), Kerala (India), Bergamo (Italy), Minnesota, New Jersey, Wisconsin (US).
  • Policy Options / Options politiques: publishes articles on COVID-19 crisis regularly.
  • La COVID dans les Amériques : Série de billets dirigée par l’Institut des Amériques et « Interdisciplinary Global Environmental Studies » sur la COVID-19 aux Amériques.
  • Verfassungsblog: A special debate section dedicated to blog posts regarding the states of emergency and democracy around the world with some discussions of federalism.
  • Covid-Dem: An info hub maintained by Tom Gerald Daly on democracy and COVID-19 crisis.
  • (Re-)Imagining Territorial Politics in Times of Crisis: UACES-JMCT Research Network launched a new blog exploring the drivers and consequences of territorial conflicts in multi-level and pluri-national societies during these turbulent times including COVID-19 crisis.
  • iPolitics: The website now has a policy portal for COVID-19 related articles.
  • CRIDAQ: Le centre a créé une rubrique pour accéder plus facilement aux articles de ses membres sur la COVID-19.

2. Podcasts / videos / conferences
Balados / vidéos / conférences

Canada

  • In this podcast, Gabriel Eidelman, the director of the Urban Policy Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy discusses new tools to help federal, provincial and municipal governments come together and make decisions about Canada’s urban centres after the COVID-19 crisis. (November 11, 2021)
  • In this episode of the Sunday Magazine, Johanne Poirier and Jennifer Wallner join Piya Chattopadhyay to talk about how the pandemic has tested Canadian federalism, what it has revealed to us about how well we work together, how we stack up against other federations - and what we can improve, moving forward. (March 7, 2021)
  • Dans ce balado, Louis-Philippe Lampron explique pourquoi le couvre-feu du Québec peut être considéré compatible avec la Charte des droits et libertés de la personne. (7 janvier 2021)
  • IPAC- IAPC organised an online panel on COVID-19 and federalism featuring Charles Breton, Mireille Paquet, Robert Schertzeer, and Roxanna Benoit. The panel is available on YouTube. (November 15, 2020)
  • Runnymede Society’s McGill branch held an online discussion with Dr. Ryan Alford on government emergency powers in a pandemic on 14 October 2020.
  • McGill Institute for the Study of Canada video titled A Critical Juncture in Fiscal Federalism? Canada & COVID-19, where Profs Daniel Béland (McGill U.), Mireille Paquet (Concordia U.), André Lecours (U. Ottawa), and Trevor Tombe (U. Calgary) present their Canadian Journal of Political Science research note, which combines insights from historical institutionalism with recent economic and fiscal projections to explore avenues for reform in response to the COVID-19 crisis. (May 8, 2020)
  • Alain-G. Gagnon parle du partage des risques entre les institutions régissant la fédération canadienne en temps de crise dans ce balado.

Argentina / Argentine

Australia / Australie

  • The Australian Academy of Law and Australian Association of Constitutional Law is organizing an online event chaired by Professor Sarah Murray, entitled “Australian Federalism in the Time of COVID” on 31 March 2022. Please follow this link for more information.
  • On this podcast, Mark Kenny speaks with federalism scholar Tracy Beck Fenwick and media expert Margaret Simons about how the federation is functioning following a week of finger pointing between the federal government and some of Australia’s states and territories over COVID-19 management and the vaccine rollout,
  • On this radio program, Geraldine Doogue on Saturday Extra talks with Pru Goward, Professor of Social Interventions and Policy at Western Sydney University and former Liberal NSW government minister, and Greg Craven, constitutional lawyer and Emeritus Professor at Australian Catholic University to answer the questions that the pandemic raised about state-Commonwealth relations (July 3, 2021).
  • Julian Morrow hosts this radio show on Australian federalism in which the guests, Geoff Gallop, Robert Carling, Karen Middleton, try to answer if the pandemic permanently changed Australians’ notion of federalism (March 14, 2021).
  • In this IACL-AICC vlog episode, Cheryl Saunders talks about Australia’s response to COVID-19 (June 18, 2020).
  • Cheryl Saunders explains the “National Cabinet”, an ad hoc Australian intergovernmental institution set up for responding to COVID-19 in this video (April 14, 2020).

Austria / Autriche

  • In this video, Mathias Eller from the Institute for Federalism in Innsbruck, Austria, discusses the role of federalism in coping with the COVID-19-crisis in Austria (March 30, 2021).

Belgium / Belgique

  • In this video, Hindustan Times National Political Editor Sunetra Choudhury analyzes a massive faceoff between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in Parliament while explaining what their views mean for Indian Federalism.
  • Cet enregistrement, intitulé "Le fédéralisme et le Covid-19", était l'édito de Fabrice Grosfilley dans Toujours + d'Actu. Il se penche sur la question du fédéralisme belge et la gestion de crise.
  • Le centre du droit public organise une conference virtuelle sur la COVID-19 et le droit public. L’inscription est ouverte au public. Pour plus d’information, visitez le site du centre (18 mai 2020).

Ethiopia / Éthiopie

  • In this IACL-AICC vlog episode, Berihun Adugna talks about Ethiopia’s response to COVID-19 ( June 9, 2020).

European Union / Union Europeénne

  • In Max Weber Programme’s Multidisciplinary Health Workshop, Scott Greer analyzes the EU's pandemic response from the perspective of comparative federalism. The author argues that the EU in COVID-19 faced the same pressures as other federations in history and responded in the same way as the successful federations: with greater assumption of collective risk. See this link for the recording (May 25, 2021).
  • Dans cette émission, Laurent Warlouzet, historien spécialiste de l’Europe à l’Université Paris Sorbonne, Alan Hervé, juriste et professeur à Sciences Po Rennes et Jacques Le Cacheux, économiste et professeur à l’Université de Pau s’interrogent si la Covid accélère le fédéralisme européen ( 8 mars 2021).

Germany / Allemagne

  • This webinar on Germany, Federalism and COVID-19 with StM Dr. Florian Heremann focus on the Covid-19 crisis from the perspective of the German Land Bavaria (Bayern) (March 15, 2021).
  • Centre Interdisciplinaire d’Études et de Recherche sur l’Allemagne (CIERA, Paris) présente des capsules vidéos appelées « Instantanés » sur la lutte contre la COVID. Dans la première vidéo, Karim Fertikh propose des pistes de réflexions sur le modèle allemand, y compris une réflexion sur les effets du fédéralisme allemand dans cette lutte. Dans la deuxième vidéo, Christophe Duhamelle interroge le fédéralisme allemand à la lumière d’autres épidémies de l’histoire allemande (23 avril 2020).

India / Inde

Mexico / Mexique

Nigeria / Niger

  • In this IACL-AICC vlog episode, Fola Adeleke talks about Nigeria’s response to COVID-19 (June 9, 2020).

Switzerland / Suisse

  • Dans ce balado, Balthazar Glättli, conseiller national vert zurichois et président des Verts, Marco Chiesa, président de l'UDC, et Delphine Bachmann, députée PDC genevoise se discutent sur les effets de la pandémie sur le fédéralisme suisse. 
  • La société suisse pour la politique de la santé a organisé une série de séminaires sur le fédéralisme à l’épreuve du stress par COVID-19 en mai. Voir le site de la société pour plus d’information (1 juin 2021).
  • Le Canton de Bâle-Ville, le Conseil fédéral, le Conseil des États et la Conférence des gouvernements cantonaux en Suisse ont organisé La Conférence nationale sur le fédéralisme 2021 les 27-28 mai 2021. La conférence incluait des exposés sur le fédéralisme et COVID-19 parmi d’autres. Voir le site de la conférence pour plus d’informations (27-28 mai 2021).

United Kingdom / Royaume Uni

  • Federal Trust is organized a webinar in which speakers will discuss how the UK’s various tiers of government coped, and co-ordinated, during the pandemic. Here is the link to watch the webinar (June 17, 2021).
  • The Institute for Government will publish a pre-recorded for the IfG LIVE podcast in which the First Minister of Wales, the Rt Hon Mark Drakeford MS will join Bronwen Maddox, Director of the Institute for Government, to discuss the relationship between Westminster and Cardiff, how the Welsh government has forged its path and the rebuilding of the UK’s economy (June 23, 2020).
  • Ada Lovelace Institute organized a webinar where panelists discuss the governance and implementation of emerging technologies and how joined-up approaches to COVID-19 across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales could help to contain the virus and encourage public trust. Speakers are Dr Angela Daly (Strathclyde U.), Professor Maurice Mulvenna (Ulster U.), and Professor Pete Burnap (Cardiff U.). You can also read a written summary of the webinar (May 13, 2020).

United States / États-Unis

  • In this video, Jonathan Rodder, Richard C: Shragger, and Miriam Seifter examine federalism in light of the ongoing government response to COVID-19. Panelists discuss how federal, state, and local officials reacted to the challenge and what their actions tell us about the future of the federal system, particularly in light of the rural/urban split in the United States (May 27, 2021).
  • The National Academy of Public Administration convened the Working Group on the Intergovernmental Dimensions of the COVID-19 Pandemic (Working Group or WG). The Working Group plans to describe the intergovernmental response for selected key response domains, or issues, and develop actionable recommendations that may facilitate the nation’s response to the next pandemic. At present, the Working Group is focusing on writing case reports about the four topical domains of: (1) COVID-19 Testing, (2) infection risk reduction Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs), (3) COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution, and (4) Cross-Cutting and Over-Arching Issues. See the website for more information (May 24, 2021).
  • The National Constitution Center and the National Association of Attorneys General hosted a bipartisan conversation of state attorneys general to discuss key issues regarding federalism and states’ rights, from the COVID-19 pandemic to law enforcement, elections, and more. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, will moderate (January 26, 2021).
  • National Assocation of Counties organized an online event on “Examining Federalism and the Intergovernmental Partnership” with County leaders and members of Congress, federal officials and thought leaders – including EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, U.S. Rep Gerry Connolly, U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips and ​U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson (October 21, 2020).
  • Federalism Index Project is organizing a two-day virtual event entitled “Federalism on Trial: Lessons from COVID-19”. For detailed information and recordings from the conference, please visit the website (October 21-22, 2020).
  • The Solomon Center for Health Law & Policy at Yale Law School is organizing a virtual COVID-19 workshop on COVID, federalism, and localism. Recordings of the presentations by Miriam Seifter, Richard Florida, David Skeel, and David Schleicher are available on Vimeo (October 14, 2020).
  • Hoover Institution organized a webinar on "Federalism and COVID-19" with Governor Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. and Lanhee J. Chen (August 12, 2020).
  • In this virtual panel from Harvard Kennedy School, Matthew Baum, Erica Chenoweth, and Archon Fung discuss the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on democracies across the world. Fung’s talk particularly focuses on federalism (July 10, 2020).
  • In this webinar, Donald Verilli, Elizabeth (Bessie) N. Dewar, and Michelle Mello discuss the opportunities and challenges of the US federalism during this pandemic (July 1, 2020).
  • In this video, J. Wesley Leckrone explores how federalism has affected the United States' response to COVID-19 (June 23, 2020).
  • In this podcast, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush talks about the US federalism and challenges that the States are facing during this crisis (June 22, 2020).
  • The Federalist Society published the recording of the panel on Federalism and COVID-19 from their virtual conference on “COVID-19 & the Law”. You might also reach all recordings through the website (June 11, 2020).
  • In this short video, Professor Keith Whittington of Princeton University discusses how states have traditionally exerted their authority as they see fit, particularly in a time of a health crisis, and how federal courts can monitor whether a state has unduly violated individual rights or interstate commerce (June 3, 2020).
  • Aziz Huq, Miriam Seifter, and Debra Perlin discuss the division of decision-making authority in a public health crisis between the federal and state governments in the US Constitution. They try to determine if federal system an advantage or disadvantage in the fight against COVID-19 in this recording of their webinar entitled Federalism: Friend or Foe? Federal & State Authority to Fight COVID-19 (May 13, 2020).
  • In this virtual policy briefing, John Yoo discusses COVID-19 and US federalism (May 12, 2020).
  • At a “teleforum” event organized by the Federalist Society, John Malcolm and John Yoo discuss the balance of powers in the US between the President, Congress, and state governors over lockdown and re-opening policy, testing, and medical expertise (April 29, 2020).
  • This Lawfare Blog podcast includes a case study of how pandemic control measures intersect with federalism issues and supply chain continuity & security, focusing on what is happening in Illinois. Jen Patja Howell moderates this discussion with David Priess and Mark Denzler (April 25, 2020).
  • In this video entitled “COVID-19 vs. the Constitution: How Far Can Governors Go to Fight the Virus?”, Meryl Chertoff (moderator), Esha Bhandari, Lawrence O. Gostin, Juliette Kayyem, and Jeffrey Locke review the scanty relevant case law in the US. They discuss the federal public health laws governing quarantine and travel limits; consider what powers governors have to limit individual rights and to keep nonresidents out; and explore how constitutional principles on the right to travel; privileges and immunities; and due process could be invoked (April 9, 2020).
  • In this podcast from Legal Talk Network, Professors Robert Tsai and Glenn Cohen discuss federalism in the US and states’ powers in the context of the COVID-19 crisis (April 3, 2020).

Comparing Federations / Fédérations comparées

  • Multiple Countries: In this video, the winners of the Baxter Family Competition in Federalism present their papers, in which 1st prize winner, Josiah Wamwere-Njoroge (LLB candidate, Riara University, Nairobi, Kenya), present his paper entitled “The Utility of a Decentralized Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic” and honorable mention recipient, Philipp Renninger (PhD candidate in law, University of Lucerne and University of Freiburg, Switzerland and Germany), present his paper entitled “‘Federalism, Chinese Style’? or: How to Contain COVID-19 Through a Central-Local Chess Game.” (May 25, 2021).
  • Amérique du Nord (North America) : Université Grenoble-Alpes a organisé un séminaire sur COVID-19 et fédéralisme en Amérique du Nord. Voir le site web pour plus d’information (17 mai 2021).
  • Australia, Canada, the USA, Italy, Argentina, and Brazil: Australian Centre for Federalism and the Centre for International and Public Law organized a webinar on the use (or, non-use) of subnational border restrictions and closures to control the spread of COVID-19 in federal systems. (March 5, 2021)
  • Multiple Countries: The GOVTRUST Centre of Excellence in Belgium organized a symposium. The theme of the symposium is “Trust and the COVID-19 Crisis: Regulation and Compliance in Multi-level Governance”. During this symposium, members of the GOVTRUST consortium and guest speakers presented recent work on the topic of trust and the coronavirus crisis, identify key learning points, and raise some crucial questions and issues for discussion (January 29, 2021).
  • Latin America (Amérique Latine): The David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University organized a webinar entitled “Federalism and COVID Responses”. Please visit the website for more information (November 17, 2020).
  • Belgique & Suisse (Belgium & Switzerland): Dans leur épisode du 1er novembre, les chroniqueurs du programme « Les Beaux Parleurs » se demandent si le fédéralisme constitue un défi dans la lutte contre la pandémie (1 novembre 2020).
  • Multiple Countries: International Association of Centres for Federal Studies (IACFS) is organizing a conference whose theme is “Combating the COVID-19 pandemic: Federalism a boon or bane?” The aim is to reflect on how, since the first outbreak of the virus in a country, the federal system functioned and responded over the crucial period ending in October 2020. To obtain the link and the program, please contact the association (October 15-16, 2020).
  • Germany & Australia (Allemagne & Australie): The second podcast of Forum of Federations’ podcast series examine the intergovernmental coordination practices used in Germany and Australia - two countries that received international attention for their success in controlling the first wave of Coronavirus - and assess what lessons might be learned from these experiences with Nathalie Behnke and Alan Fenna (September 30, 2020).
  • Latin America & Carribeans (Amérique Latine et les Caraïbes): Forum of Federation’s webinar, “Subnational Governments in the COVID-19 Scenario in the Americas”, explores the dynamics and practices of s ubnational and local governments in responding to the challenges facing Latin America and the Caribbean as a result of the COVID-19 crisis (September 21, 2020).
  • Asia & the Pacific (Asie et la Pacifique): The 5th Melbourne Forum on Constitution Building in Asia and the Pacific at Melbourne Law School was hosted by the Constitution Transformation Network and by International IDEA. The third webinar of the forum was dedicated to Multi-level governments and COVID-19. Participants were Anne Twomey (Australia), Budhi Karki (Nepal), Ramdas Menon (India), and Yasser KureshiIt (Pakistan). The panel was moderated by William Partlett. The recording of the webinar can be viewed here (September 17, 2020).
  • Germany & United States (Allemagne et États-Unis): American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at Johns Hopkins University is organizing a webinar on how states’ responses to COVID-19 shaped the national response with a focus on US and Germany. The webinar will feature leaders of two of the largest and most densely populated states in Germany and the US, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and North-Rhine Westphalia Minister-President Armin Laschet (June 30, 2020).
  • Multiple Countries: The Institute of Federalism organized a webinar on the role and impact of federalism on effective crisis management (June 29, 2020).
  • Canada, United States & Mexico (Canada, États-Unis, Mexique): The first podcast of Forum of Federations’ podcast series explore how the Coronavirus pandemic has impacted federal governance dynamics in Canada, the United States, and Mexico, and assess the implications of the crisis on the federations in North America with Bob Rae, John Kincaid, and Laura Flamand (June 12, 2020).
  • Canada & Hungary (Canada & Hongrie): This webinar on COVID-19: Emergency Powers and Legal Principle: addresses and explains the concept of a ‘state of emergency’ in both the Canadian and Hungarian contexts. Professors David Dyzenhaus and Paul Daly explore what a state of emergency means, examine Canada’s federal and provincial responses to the current public health crisis, and suggest strategies on how to ensure that government power is not abused (May 20, 2020).
  • Multiple Countries: EURAC’s Institute for Minority Rights organized a series of webinars on Minority Rights and COVID-19 (May 14- August 5, 2020).
  • Germany, EU & international (Allemagne, UE et international): Verfassungsblog organized three online discussions on COVID-19 crisis regarding with German, European and international perspectives (May 12-26, 2020).
  • Mexico, USA & Brazil (Mexique, Etats-Unis, Brésil): In this webinar, Alberto Diyaz-Cayeros discusses how federalism impacted the Mexican response to the pandemic. He also comments on US and Brazilian federalism (May 8, 2020).

3. Existing research projects and calls for papers
Projets de recherche en cours et appels à contribution

  • Hosted by the Verfassungsblog and supported by Democracy Reporting International, RECONNECT, and the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, Power and the COVID-19 Pandemic Symposium beginning on 22 February 2021 brings together experts from over 70 countries to reflect on how legal and political systems have adapted to ongoing challenges presented by the pandemic to democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, and to offer recommendations on the future of good governance. Please visit the website for more information.
  • The UACES-JMCT Research Network ‘Territorial Politics in Times of Crisis’: The research network invites submissions for its first workshop under the theme ‘Conceptualizing Crises in Territorial Politics’, to be held online 29-30 April 2021. The goal is to explore how crises of territorial orders (that is, the institutional organization of territorial diversity, ranging from federations to federacies, devolved states to regionalized unitary states) can be conceptualized. See the call for papers.
  • Canada: In this podcast, Charles Breton moderates a discussion between Mireille Paquet, Robert Schertzer, and Roxanna Benoit. Mireille and Robert, who are associate professors of political science at Concordia University and the University of Toronto respectively, share findings from their recently released study with the Centre of Excellence, Irregular Border Crossings and Asylum Seekers in Canada: A Complex Intergovernmental Problem. Meanwhile, Roxanna brings insights on intergovernmental collaboration, drawing on her experience in the public service, including as Alberta’s former deputy minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations.
  • Covid-19, internal boundaries and regional governance: The Foreign Languages Department at Université Grenoble Alpes is organizing a series of seminars that aims to take stock of the short- and medium-term impact of the crisis on relations between central and regional governments. Submissions will consist in a 300-word summary and a short bibliography, and should be sent in English or in French before 27 November 2020. For more information, see the call for papers.
  • Canadian Journal of Political Science: The Canadian Journal of Political Science is now accepting short research notes (2,000 words or less) devoted to the coronavirus pandemic for rapid peer review and publication. They will accept submissions for the COVID-19 rapid review series until 31 May 2020. After that date, they will continue to accept submissions related to COVID-19 as part of their regular research note and article manuscript submissions. Please see the call for more details.
  • The Review of Constitutional Studies: The Journal is now accepting submissions of manuscripts in English or French for its next two issues. For Issue 25.2, papers focusing on the constitutional implications of emergency powers in response to the recent health and environmental crises are particularly welcome. The deadline for submitting a manuscript for this issue is 30 September 2020. Please see the call for papers more information.
  • Colloque étudiant virtuel sur le rôle des sciences sociales et humaines dans la redéfinition du vivre-ensemble : regards transdisciplinaires sur les sorties de crise: L’UOF et l’Acfas invitent les étudiantes et les étudiants au 2e et au 3e cycles ainsi que les jeunes chercheurs de toutes les disciplines à soumettre des projets de communication qui portent sur les différentes dimensions du vivre-ensemble impliquées par la crise de COVID-19. Les propositions doivent contenir un maximum de 500 mots incluant le titre, la question de recherche, les principales conclusions ainsi qu’un lien avec le thème du colloque. Elles doivent être rédigées en format Times New Roman avec une police de taille 12 et une interligne de 1,5. Le nom du fichier de la proposition doit suivre la forme suivante : prénom_nom_titre de la proposition. Elles doivent être soumises par courriel avant le 15 juin 2020. Toutes les propositions doivent être envoyées à l’adresse suivante : jade.boivin [at] uontario.ca
  • CRIDAQ : Le Centre de recherche fait un appel à projet spécial COVID-19 pour ses membres.
  • Public Law: The Public Law journal welcomes submissions to journal’s analysis section dealing with issues relating to the public law dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Editors would keen to receive pieces with varied perspectives including (but not limited to) territorial relations and policy variation between the UK’s governments and comparative reflections on “emergency” responses in other jurisdictions. See here for more information.
  • Centre for Constitutional Studies at University of Alberta welcomes posts for their ‘Pandemic Powers and the Constitution Blog’. Please see the call for posts.
  • The National Journal of Constitutional Law is calling for submissions of papers for possible publication in late 2020 and 2021 on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the federalism/ human rights and civil liberties in Canada, and the constitutional and administrative law aspects of the use of emergency legislation and the role of judicial review of emergency measures in Canada. The Journal welcomes comparative analysis of these issues in other liberal democratic or federal countries. The suggested deadline is September 30, 2020. Usual paper length is between 8,000 to 10,000 words. Due to the short time frame, shorter papers will also be considered. Papers can be submitted to Professor Errol Mendes at emendes [at] uottawa.ca (.)
  • Writing Competition on Federalism: The theme for the third edition of the Baxter Family Competition on Federalism is 'Federalism, Identity and Public Policy in Challenging Times', which allows for, without being limited to, reflections on the impact of federalism on the coronavirus pandemic and vice versa. Restricted to students in law or in political science, and to jurists and political scientists having graduated less than five years before the Competition's deadline of February 1, 2021. Maximum word count is 8,000 words in English and 8,800 in French. Prizes ranging from 1,000 to 5,000 CAD$ will be awarded to winners, who will have the chance to present their work at a symposium in Montreal, if circumstances permit. See this edition's winners and their texts.

4. Articles on specific federations
Articles portant sur des fédérations spécifiques

Canada

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

  • John Kennedy, Anthony Sayers, Christopher Alcantara, “Does Federalism Prevent Democratic Accountability? Assigning Responsibility for Rates of COVID-19 Testing”, Political Studies Review, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2022: Drawing on original data from the May 2020 Democratic Checkup Survey and public data from the Canadian National Microbiology Laboratory, this study suggests that interprovincial policy variation with respect to coronavirus testing is not correlated with public assessments of the adequacy of provincial testing, and so it seems that Canadians are not able to assign responsibility to the correct level of government despite ideal conditions for doing so. 
  • Cherie Metcalf, Meghan Huskisson-Snider. “The Pandemic and beyond: Federalism Faces Existential Threats”, Queen's Law Journal, Vol. 46, No. 2, Spring 2021: The authors assess ways in which the division of power between the federal and provincial governments has been both a potential benefit and hinderance to successfully confronting the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Dave Guénette, Félix Mathieu, « Le Canada devant ses principes constitutionnels sous-jacents en temps de crise : regards sur la gestion de la COVID-19 », Les Cahiers de droit, Vol. 62, No. 2, Juin 2021 : Dans cet article, à travers le prisme d’analyse du Renvoi relatif à la sécession du Québec, les auteurs montrent que la gouvernance au Canada, au cours de la première vague de la pandémie de COVID-19, a eu des répercussions différenciées sur les principes constitutionnels sous-jacents du fédéralisme, de la démocratie, du constitutionnalisme et de la primauté du droit, ainsi que de la protection des minorités.
  • John Kennedy, Anthony Seyers, Christopher Alcantara, “Does Federalism Prevent Democratic Accountability? Assigning Responsibility for Rates of COVID-19 Testing”, Political Studies Review, 5 April 2021: Drawing on original data from the May 2020 Democratic Checkup Survey and public data from the Canadian National Microbiology Laboratory, authors determine whether federalism prevents citizen from correctly assigning responsibility.
  • Gregory P. Marchildon, Carolyn H Tuohy, “Expanding health care coverage in Canada: a dramatic shift in the debate”, Health Economics, Policy, and Law, 8 February 2021: The article warns against reforming the health care system relying on shared-cost federalism and suggests two alternatives, one for LTC and one for pharmaceuticals, that are more likely to succeed given the state of the Canadian federation in the early 21st century.
  • Michael Da Silva, “COVID-19 and Health-Related Authority Allocation Puzzles”, Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, Vol. 30 No. 1, 2021: This work explains why resolving health-related authority allocation puzzles should be part of long-term responses to COVID-19, and outlines some initial COVID-19-related findings that shed light on justifiable authority allocation, emergencies, emergency powers, and the relationships between them.
  • Gregory P. Marchildon, “The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination: what can Canada learn from Israel?”, Israel Journal of Health Policy Research, Vol. 10, No. 12, 2021: This commentary compares Israel’s COVID-10 vaccination response to the much slower and less successful vaccination campaign in Canada.
  • Nicholas Spence et al, “The COVID-19 Pandemic: Informing Policy Decision-Making for a Vulnerable Population”, International Indigenous Policy Journal, Vol. 11, No. 3, 2020: This article examines the pronounced vulnerability of Indigenous Peoples in Canada to the pandemic by highlighting the importance of moving beyond individual-level risk factors associated with COVID-19 by identifying and classifying Indigenous communities most vulnerable to the pandemic.
  • Adil Sayeed, “COVID-19 Blunts Alberta Challenge to Federal–Provincial Income Tax”, Canadian Public Policy, Vol. 46, No. S3, October 2020: Sayeed argues that COVID-19 crisis had an effect on Alberta’s stance on federal-provincial income tax.
  • Iwona A. Bielska, Mark Embrett, Lauren Jewett et al.,”Canada’s Multi-Jurisdictional COVID-19 Public Health Response – January to May 2020”, Zdrowie Publiczne i Zarzadzanie, Vol. 18. No. 1, 2020: This paper examines Canada’s public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic during the first four months (January to May 2020) by overviewing the actions undertaken by the federal (national) and regional (provincial/territorial) governments.
  • David Robitaille, « Confinements, déplacements et urgence nationale. Le partage des compétences en temps de crise sanitaire. », The Canadian Bar Review, Vol. 98, No. 1, 2020: L’auteur explore les arguments qui pourraient être soutenus au soutien des compétences fédérales et provinciales sur certaines questions soulevées pendant la pandémie telles que la quarantaine et les frontières interprovinciales. Il discute ensuite du pouvoir fédéral d’adopter des lois en temps de crise qui pourrait écarter temporairement ce partage des compétences.
  • Andrea Riccardo Migone, “Trust, but customize: federalism’s impact on the Canadian COVID-19 response”, Policy and Society, Vol. 39, No. 3, 2020: This article explores how Canadian federalism, with its complex mix of competencies, and the country’s punctuated gradualism policy style interface with urgent, complex decision-making like the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Kyle Hanniman, “COVID-19, Fiscal Federalism and Provincial Debt: Have We Reached a Critical Juncture?”, Canadian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 53, No. 2, Special Edition: This article assesses the claim that surging provincial debts have brought Canadian federalism to a critical juncture and that they have significantly increased the odds of federal measures to stabilize provincial finances.
  • Erica Rayment, Jason VandenBeukel, “Pandemic Parliaments: Canadian Legislatures in a Time of Crisis”, Canadian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 53, No. 2, Special Edition: Authors present the collected data on the activities of Canadian legislatures at the federal and provincial levels during the COVID-19 pandemic to see how their reaction has impacted their work and functions.
  • Mirelle Paquet, Robert Schertzer, “COVID-19 as a Complex Intergovernmental Problem” Canadian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 53, No. 2, Special Edition: COVID-19 Short Research Papers, June 2020: Paquet and Schertzer introduce the concept of “Complex Intergovernmental Problem” and propose it as a framework to treat intergovernmental issues in federal systems related to COVID-19 crisis by giving examples form Canadian context.
  • Stéphanie Chouinard, Martin Normand, “Talk COVID to Me: Language Rights and Canadian Government Responses to the Pandemic”, Canadian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 53, No. 2, Special Edition: COVID-19 Short Research Papers, June 2020: Authors argue that in addition to legal requirements to provide minority language services, it is not justifiable for governments to suspend or curtail such services in an emergency situation, for reasons pertaining to public safety and public health and explain how governments could better uphold their language obligations in times of emergency.
  • Daniel Béland, André Lecours, Mireille Paquet, and Trevor Tombe, “A Critical Juncture in Fiscal Federalism? Canada's Response to COVID-19”, Canadian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 53, No. 2, Special Edition: COVID-19 Short Research Papers, June 2020: Authors discuss how Canada’s response to COVID-19 crisis may transform fiscal federalism in the light of provincial autonomy and already existing intergovernmental tensions.

Books & Book Chapters / Livres & chapitres d’ouvrages collectifs

  • Johanne Poirier, Jessica Michelin, “Facing the Coronavirus Pandemic in the Canadian Federation: Reinforced dualism and muted cooperation?”, in Nico Steytler (ed), Comparative Federalism and Covid-19: Combating the Pandemic (London: Routledge, 2021): This chapter examines federal dynamics in the first six months of the Covid-19 pandemic in Canada, from the initial outbreak in March 2020 to the start of the second wave. Focusing on health and disaster/emergency management, it describes the relevant constitutional and legislative frameworks, surveys federal and provincial response measures, and analyses intergovernmental preparedness and subsequent interaction. 
  • Christine Van Geyn, COVID and Freedom, Canadian Constitution Foundation, 2020: The Foundation published an e-book on how the pandemic has affected constitutional rights and it includes our expert analysis of issues including mandatory masks, lock downs, border closures and business restriction.
  • Colleen M. Flood, Vanessa MacDonnell, Jane Philpott, Sophie Thériault, Sridhar Venkatapuram (eds), “Vulnerable: The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19”, University of Ottawa Press, 2020: This book features articles that confront the vulnerabilities and interconnectedness made visible by the pandemic and its consequences, along with the legal, ethical and policy responses. These include vulnerabilities for people who have been harmed or will be harmed by the virus directly and those harmed by measures taken to slow its relentless march; vulnerabilities exposed in our institutions, governance and legal structures; and vulnerabilities in other countries and at the global level where persistent injustices harm us all. Download the open access PDF version.
  • Catherine Girard, Guy Laforest, Isabelle Laforest-Lapointe, Félix Mathieu, Jean-Phillippe Warren (dir.), Penser l’après-Covid 19, July 2020: Ce dossier thématique du Magazine de l’Acfas contient des articles déjà publiées dans La Presse sur les enjeux de l’heure.

Research Papers & Reports / Documents de recherche & Rapports

  • Daniel Béland, Trevor Tombe, “Three Policy Pathways for Federal Health Care Funding in Canada”, University of Calgary - The School of Public Policy Publications, Vol. 14, No. 36, December 2021: In this paper, after briefly reviewing the evolution of federal health care funding in Canada since the 1950s, authors formulate three potential policy pathways federal policymakers might consider in order to improve health care funding in the country.
  • Paisley Sim, “COVID-19 Policy Stringency across Provinces”, MAX Policy Articles, 6 May 2021: The author summarizes the work done by at the Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation at the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) on the variation of policies across provinces.
  • “The Role of Governments and the Division of Powers: Federalism in the Context of a Pandemic”, Environics Institute for Survey Research, the Canada West Foundation, the Centre D’Analyse Politique – Constitution et Fédéralisme, the Institute for Research on Public Policyand the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government and the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, 19 April 2021: The report presents the results of several surveys conducted with Canadians regarding the performances of federal and provincial governments as well as the division of powers during the pandemic.
  • Carolyn Hughes Tuohy, “Federalism as a Strength: A Path Toward Ending the Crisis in Long-Term Care”, Centre of Excellence on Canadian Federation – IRPP, 10 March 2021: This paper suggests that Canadian governments should exploit the strengths of Canadian federalism to improve long-term care.
  • Fred McMahon, “Fiscal Federalism and the Dependency of Atlantic Canada”, Fraser Institute, 28 January 2021: The report explains the major challenges that fiscal federalism will face after COVID-19 crisis.
  • Tomas Hachard, “It Takes Three: Making Space for Cities in Canadian Federalism”, IMFG Perspectives, No. 31, 2020: Author argues that the COVID-19 crisis has highlighted pre-existing cracks in Canada’s federal structure, particularly in relation to Canada’s cities. He highlights four challenges cities face in this context and offers solutions.
  • Neil Bradford, “Policy In Place: Revisiting Canada’s Tri-Level Agreements”, IMFG Papers on Municipal Finance and Governance, No. 50, 2020: This paper underlines the importance of cities in Canadian policy-making and identifies specific policy fields where new tri-level agreements could have a positive impact and closes with six principles to inform their design and implementation.
  • Gabriel Eidelman, “Reimagining the Canadian Federation through an Urban Lens”, Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation, October 2020: Eidelman discusses necessary steps to take for urban recovery in the aftermath of the pandemic.
  • André Lecours, Daniel Béland, Nikola Brassard-Dion, Trevor Tombe, Jennifer Wallner, “The COVID-19 Crisis and Canadian Federalism”, Forum of Federations Occasional Paper Series No. 48, 2020: This paper examines the potential impact of the COVID-19 crisis on six key dimensions of Canadian federalism: social protection; intergovernmental relations; fiscal federalism; emergency powers; Québec nationalism and politics; and regional alienation in Alberta.
  • Jörg Broschek, “Resilient Federalism and Transformative Policy Change: Prospects for a New “National Policy” in Canada”, Institute for Research on Public Policy, No. 1, September 2020: Broschek explains how the pandemic created a critical juncture in Canadian politics and how to use this moment to transform Canadian federalism.
  • Trevor Tombe, “What Now? The Need to Review Canada’s Fiscal Stabilization Program for provinces after COVID-19”, Canada West Foundation Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations Commission Policy Brief, August 2020: This brief analysis attempts to quantify the potential scale of the revenue challenge facing Canada’s provincial governments and some policy options available to help. It also clarifies what factors we should anticipate will dominate the federal-provincial relationship in the months to come.
  • Ligue des droit et les libertés, “Mémoire – consultations particulières sur les applications de traçage numérique.”, 11 août 2020: Le mémoire de l’organisme explique pourquoi le traçage numérique n’est pas une bonne stratégie contre la pandémie au Québec.

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

Working Papers / Documents de travail

  • Emily Cameron-Blake, Helen Tatlow, Thomas Hale, Andrew Wood, Jonathan Smith, Julia Sawatsky, Zachary Parsons, Katherine Tyson, Charles Breton, Paisley Sim, “Variation in the Provincial and Territorial Responses to COVID-19”, Blavatnik School Working Paper, 15 March 2021: The authors find that the benefits of federalism have been unevenly leveraged, a lack of coordination in planning and communication between the provinces and territories is an area of opportunity for improved future pandemic planning.
  • David Robitaille, “COVID-19 in Canada: The Division of Powers Over Quarantine and Borders”, SSRN, 4 August 2020: The author argues that, according to the principles of federalism, powers over quarantine and borders must be shared between the federal and the provinces based on their international, interprovincial and local impacts.

Opinions

News Articles / Article de presse

Other Sources / Autres sources

Argentina / Argentine

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

Australia / Australie

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

  • Julian R. Murphy, Erika Arban, “Assessing the Performance of Australian Federalism in Responding to the Pandemic”, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Vol. 51, No. 4, Fall 2021: This article provides a comprehensive evaluation of the federalism-implicated aspects of Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The article’s research question is: to what extent was Australia’s federal structure responsible for the relative successes and failures of the national pandemic response? The method chosen to answer this question is largely theoretical, supplemented by aspects of institutional and policy analysis.
  • Kate Doust, Sam Hastings, “Legislative Scrutiny in Times of Emergency: A Case Study of Australian Parliaments”, European Journal of Law Reform, No. 4, 2020: This article examines the scrutiny of primary legislation by the parliaments of Western Australia the Commonwealth of Australia during the initial stages of the pandemic, through the application of principles from the House of Lords Select Committee inquiry into fast-track legislation.

Books & Book Chapters / Livres & chapitres d’ouvrages collectifs

  • Emrys Nekvapil, Maya Narayan, Stephanie Brenker, “COVID-19 and the Law of Australia”: Authors created an online textbook for guidance on the laws made by the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary (and administrative tribunals) of the Commonwealth and each State and Territory in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It also includes a chapter on constitutional division of powers on this matter.

Research Papers & Reports / Documents de recherche & Rapports

  • Bill Browne, “State revival: the role of the states in Australia’s COVID-19 response and beyond”, The Australia Institute, July 2021: The paper presents an overview of the pandemic’s effects on state-federal government balance.
  • Cheryl Saunders, “A New Federalism? The Role and Future of the National Cabinet”, GDC Policy Brief, No. 2, 1 July 2021: This brief examines how Australia's federal system was able to mount an effective and coordinated response to the pandemic through establishment of new intergovernmental arrangements - in stark contrast to other federal states such as the USA - and identifies key issues to be addressed as the new intergovernmental system is developed.
  • Jenny Child, Roland Dillon, Eija Erasmus, and Jacob Johnson, “Collaboration in crisis: Reflecting on Australia’s COVID-19 response”, McKinsey& Company, 15 December 2020: The article offers a valuable insight into Australia’s COVID-19 response as it features results distilled from interviews with dozens of public- and private-sector leaders responsible for shaping Australia’s COVID-19 response as well as quantitative data. It also shines a light on these collaborative actions and the lessons they might hold for other countries.

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

Working Papers / Documents de travail

  • Marco Rizzi, Tamara Tulich, “All Bets on the Executive(s)! The Australian Response to COVID-19”, SSRN, 1 October 2021: To be published in the forthcoming Routledge Handbook of Law and the COVID-19 Pandemic, this chapter examines the response of the Australian Federal and State governments to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Nicolas Aroney, Michael Boyce, “Australia and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Federal, State and Local Responses”, SSRN, 13 November 2020: The paper describes and evaluates the response of the Australian federal system to the COVID-19 crisis. It argues that despite serious administrative failures, especially in the State of Victoria, the measures implemented by Australian governments at a Commonwealth, State, Territory and local level have been remarkably successful in containing the virus and providing quality health care to those infected.
  • Anne Twomey, “Multi-Level Government and COVID-19: Australia as a case study”, Melbourne Forum 2020 Discussion Papers, September 2020: This paper highlights how the multi-level government of Australia responded to the COVID-19 crisis.

Opinions

News Articles / Article de presse

Other Sources / Autre sources

  • The Parliament of Victoria launched an inquiry into the pandemic response of the Victorian government. Related documents can be accessed through its website. Amongst the submissions made to the committee, Evgenia Lega’s submission particularly addresses the federalist nature of Australia and how federalism failed in this crisis.

Austria / Autriche

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

Belgium / Belgique

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

Books & Book Chapters / Livres & Entrées d’ouvrages collectifs

  • Frédéric Bouhon, Emmanuel Slautsky, Stéphanie Wattier, « Le droit public belge face à la crise du COVID-19 Quelles leçons pour l'avenir ? », Larcier, 2022 : Le présent ouvrage contient 26 contributions thématiques réparties en trois parties. La première porte sur l’organisation des pouvoirs telle qu’elle a été bousculée par la crise. La deuxième concerne les instruments et les ressources de l’action publique et les adaptations que celle-ci a dû subir du fait de la pandémie. La troisième se focalise sur les droits fondamentaux. 
  • Saba Parsa, Marc Uyttendaele, « La pandémie de Covid-19 face au droit », Anthémis, 2021 : Cet ouvrage est une collection des articles qui illustrent les défis posés par la pandémie contre le droit en ayant l’objectif d'envisager l'avenir et d'imaginer des balises pour que la crise inédite de Covid-19 soit un tremplin vers une société meilleure plutôt que l'esquisse d'un rétrécissement de nos espaces de liberté.

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

Opinions

News Articles / Article de presse

Other Sources / Autres sources

Bosnia and Herzegovina / Bosnie-Herzégovine

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

Brazil / Brésil

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

Working Papers / Documents de travail

News Articles / Article de presse

  • Different media outlets (Time, Bloomberg, ABC News, The Globe and Mail) and NGOs (Human Rights Watch) report on the power struggle between state governors and President Bolsonaro and how the federal courts are revoking or suspending Bolsonaro’s decrees that limit the powers of state governors.

China / Chine

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

  • Jacques DeLisle, Shen Kui, “China’s Response to COVID-19”, Administrative Law Review, Vol 73, No.1, 2021: The article offers an overview of the legal framework that helped China tackle the crisis.

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

Opinions

  • Philipp Renninger, “China and COVID-19: A Central-Local ‘Chess Game’”, The Diplomat, 20 June 2020: Renninger explains the role of local authorities in the management of this crisis and how the central government positions itself vis-à-vis this role.

Working Papers / Documents de travail

Colombia / Colombie

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

  • Juan Carlos Covilla Martínez, “Coordinating Colombia’s Pandemic Response”, The Regulatory Review, 3 June 2020: In this article, Martínez argues that Colombia lacks procedures for ensuring coordination among different levels of government.

European Union / Union européenne

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

  • Martin Rhodes, “‘Failing forward’: a critique in light of Covid-19”, Journal of European Public Policy, Vol. 28, No. 10, 2021: This article examines the policy responses of the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) to the Covid-19 pandemic during its first twelve months. The intensity of the policy challenge, and the ways in which both political systems have been forced to respond, create a ‘moment révélateur’ – a revealing inflection point – that casts light on their relative institutional strengths and weaknesses.
  • Federico Maria Ferrera, Hanspeter Kriesi, “Crisis pressures and European integration”, Journal of European Public Policy, September 2021: Authors theorize that diverse combinations of crisis pressures generate four decision-making scenarios in the EU, each of which can be ascribed to different combinations of analytical insights from neofunctionalism, intergovernmentalism, postfunctionalism, and federalism. They illustrate the value of their framework in relation to four EU crises concerning the euro area, refugees, Brexit and Covid-19.
  • Juan Carlos Martín, Concepción Román, “The Effects of COVID-19 on EU federalism”, Eastern Journal of European Studies, Vol. 12, Special Issue, August 2021: This article analyses how COVID-19 is affecting the EU federalism position in 21 Member States. The analysis is based on an ordered probit econometric model that explains the citizens’ support to a major involvement of the EU institutions to control the corona virus pandemic.
  • Nazaré da Costa Cabral, “Borrowing in the European Union: from a pure national model to the antechamber of a European fiscal federal solution”, Journal of European Integration, 2021: In this article, the author presents the evolution in the European Union of different borrowing models going through a path which starts out with a purely national model, passes through stages of hybrid (national and European) models, to reach the final stage, a purely European model after the Sovereign Debt and the COVID-19 crises.
  • Geert Bouckaert, Davide Galli, Sabine Kuhlmann, Renate Reiter, Steven Van Hecke, “European Coronationalism? A Hot Spot Governing a Pandemic Crisis”, Public Administration Review, Vol. 80, No. 4, 2020: The authors point to the lack of European response within the Union by focusing on Belgium, France, Germany, and Italy.
  • Alession M. Pacces, Maria Weimer, “From Diversity to Coordination: A European Approach to COVID-19”, European Journal of Risk Regulation, Vol 11, Special Issue 2 June 2020: Authors argue that a coordinated response as an exit strategy is more desirable for the future of the EU.
  • Iñigo de Miguel, Elena Atienza-Macías, “What Can We Expect From the EU Legal Framework in a Pandemic Outbreak?” [.pdf], Biodritto, 14 March 2020: Researchers explain how the EU could help the Member States to cope with COVID-19 and focus on the so-called, “Solidarity Clause” as well as the Integrated Political Crisis Response arrangements.

Research Papers & Reports / Documents de recherche et rapports

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

Working Papers / Documents de travail

  • Hjalte Lokdam, Michael A. Wilkinson, “The European Economic Constitution in Crisis: A Conservative Transformation”, SSRN, 14 April 2021: The paper explains the neoliberal and undemocratic origins of the EU’s economic constitution and also looks at how COVID-19 crisis changed this constitution.
  • Hjalte Lokdam, “The Ideological Shade of the Constitutional Order: Public Law and Political Economy in the Eurozone”, iCourts Working Paper Series, No. 231, 2021: This paper argues that the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) created at Maastricht conformed to the neoliberal theory of interstate federalism in seeking to constitute structural conditions that circumscribed the effective exercise of activist public authority at both the Member State and European level. However, different crises, including COVID-19 pandemic highlighted that the objectives pursued under the reformed EMU might depart from the set of policies traditionally associated with neoliberalism.
  • Mitja Kovac, Amira Elkanawati, Vita Gjikolli, and Ann-Sophie Vandenberghe, “The COVID-19 Pandemic: Collective Action and European Public Policy under Stress”, Law & Economics of Covid-19 Working Paper Series, April 2020: Authors seek to address the role played by European public policy in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and argue that the current unprecedented outbreak of this superspreading virus calls for a more significant EU-wide coordinated response.

Opinions

Council of Europe/ Conseil d’Europe

Other Sources / Autres sources

Ethiopia / Éthiopie

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

Germany / Allemagne

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

Books & Book Chapters / Livres & Entrées d’ouvrages collectifs

  • Pierre Thielbörger, “Germany - Federalism in Action”, in Matthias C Kettemann, Konrad Lachmayer (eds), Pandemocracy in Europe: Power, Parliaments and People in Times of COVID-19, Bloomsbury, 2021: After giving an overview over the course of the pandemic in Germany including the state’s response to it, the analysis proceeds with characterising the German model of federalism, the constitutional rules on state emergencies, democratic power-sharing and the special protection of fundamental rights as well as infectious disease law. It weighs the strengths and weaknesses of the German (highly federalist) approach.

Research Papers & Reports / Documents de recherche & Rapports

  • Jürgen Stehn, “Federalism in (Corona-)Crisis”, Kiel Policy Briefs, No. 160, November 2021: Against the backdrop of the economic theory of federalism, the author examines whether decentralized powers in infection control at the state level are less efficient than centralized powers at the federal level. He reveals that preferences varied relatively widely among the states with respect to the type and extent of pandemic response during the Corona crisis
  • Finn Malte Schmid, “Crisis Management in Public Administration COVID, De-/Centralization and the Public Health Service in Germany” (Master's thesis), University of Agder, 2021: This thesis raises the question of what influence the federalism and the accompanying decentralized organization of the pandemic response has on the crisis management in Germany. Using expert interviews and qualitative methods, three states in Germany are being used as cases and compared according to their institutional design and their challenges in crisis management.
  • Lothar Wieler, Ute Rexroth, and René Gottschalk, “Emerging COVID-19 success story: Germany’s strong enabling environment”, Our World in Data, 30 June 2020: The article underlines the reasons behind Germany’s success to handle the pandemic. It also explains the effect of German federalism in this success.
  • Gaëlle Winter, « Regards sur la réaction allemande à la crise du Covid-19 », Notes de la Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique, 20 Avril 2020 : Cette note détaillée sur la réponse allemande met en lumière – parmi d’autres – les conditions peu favorables du fédéralisme allemand pour la gestion de la crise, surtout en matière de partage des compétences ; explique comment ces institutions se sont adaptées; et offre une réflexion sur l’impact de la crise aux relations européennes.

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

  • Anna Katharina Mangold, “Germany and COVID-19: A Most Eventful Year”, Verfassungsblog, 7 April 2021: This post provides an overview of the first year of the pandemic with a focus on the questions of vertical and horizontal separation of powers, the role of expertise in the Covid response, and restrictions of fundamental rights as adjudicated by courts.
  • Johanna Schnabel, Yvonne Hegele, “Covid-19 and Federal Dynamics in Germany: Business as Usual”, UACES Territorial Politics Blog, 9 June 2020: Authors argue that the management of the COVID-19 crisis has been consistent with Germany’s cooperative approach to federalism rather than creating a major change in federal dynamics.
  • Johannes Saurer, “COVID-19 and Cooperative Administrative Federalism in Germany”, The Regulatory Review, 13 May 2020: Saurer explains how Germany ‘s federal system shaped the country’s response to COVID-19.
  • Anika Anika Klafki, Andrea Kießling, “Fighting COVID 19 – Legal Powers and Risks: Germany”, Verfassungsblog, 20 March 2020: Authors provide an overview of the relevant legal instruments in the fight against the virus as well as the tensions due to the federalism.
  • Constanze Stelzenmüller, Sam Denney, “COVID-19 Is a Severe Test for Germany’s Postwar Constitution”, Law Fare Blog, 16 April 2020: Authors discuss to what extent the German constitutional order is apt to counter the crisis and also addresses federalism in a specific section to explain how the revised Infection Protection Act gave new powers to the federal government and how this revision and other practices within the parliament have a centralizing effect on German federalism.
  • Georg Milbradt, “Federalism and the COVID-19 crisis: A perspective from Germany”, Forum of Federations Blog, April 2020: Milbradt examines Germany’s experience dealing with the COVID-19.
  • Holger Hestermeier, “Coronavirus Lockdown-Measures before the German Constitutional Court”, IDEA - Voices from the Field, 30 April 2020: Hestermeier summarizes case-law of German Constitutional Court about lockdown-measures adopted by several states (Länder).

Working Papers / Documents de travail

  • Sebastian Juhl, Roni Lehrer, Annelies G. Blom, Alexander Wenz, Tobias Rettig, Ulrich Krieger, Marina Fikel, Carina Cornesse, Elias Naumann, Katja Möhring, Maximiliane Reifenscheid. "Preferences for Centralized Decision-Making in Times of Crisis: The COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany", JHET, 4 May 2021: This study uses data from the Mannheim Corona Study to investigate factors that influence respondents’ propensity to grant additional discretionary powers to the German federal government. The results show that, while trust in government before the pandemic has a minor impact, state-level policy heterogeneity and individual threat perceptions strongly increase the likelihood to support the centralization of decision-making competencies.
  • Matthew Pelowski, “Did federalism impact the capacity for public health policy response to COVID-19? The case of Germany”, University of Birmingham Working Paper Series, March 2021: Pelowski compares the measures taken in different states and the measures taken on national level to see the role federalism played in Germany’s response to the pandemic.

Opinions

News Articles / Article de presse

India / Inde

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

Books & Book Chapters / Livres & chapitres d’ouvrages collectifs

  • Pritam Singh, ‘Punjab’s Post-COVID-19 Economic Policy Under Indian Federalism’, in Sukhpal Singh, Lakhwinder Singh, and Kamal Vatta, eds, Covid-19 Pandemic and Economic Development: Emerging Public Policy Lessons for Indian Punjab, (Singapore: Springer Singapore, 2021): The author argues that new perspectives are necessary to overcome the limitations faced by state governments within India’s federal capitalist economy within the global scenario of climate crisis and post-Covid economic crisis in mind. These limitations can be overcome, partially by extending the policy discourse usually associated with state government power to include the power of other civil society institutions, and partially by using the full potential of what a state government can do within federal limits.

Research Papers & Reports / Documents de recherche & Rapports

  • Niranjan Sahoo, Ambar Kumar Ghosh, “The Covid-19 Challenge to Indian Federalism”, Observer Research Foundation Occasional Paper No. 322, June 2021: This paper examines federal India’s own experience in the past 18 months. The aim is to uncover the nature and dimensions of India’s pandemic response, and the obstacles it has had to hurdle given the challenges posed by its federal design. The paper outlines lessons for future crises.

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

  • D K Srivastava, Muralikrishna Bharadwaj, Tarrung Kapur, Ragini Trehan, “Does India Need Vaccine Federalism?”, Economic & Political Weekly, Vol. 57, No. 6, 2022: This paper focuses on the identification of the key determinants of the interstate differences in the incidence of COVID-19. It finds that it is best to have a dynamic, transparent, and explicit formula for the interstate allocation of vaccines under conditions of deficient supply. This is ideally handled by an objective expert body
  • Ramanath Jha, “Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on India’s federalism”, Observer Research Foundation, 27 November 2021: The author argues that the pandemic proved that the Centre and states have different roles but need to work closely during a crisis, instead of adopting a centralised approach.
  • Niranjan Sahoo, Ambar Kumar Ghosh, “COVID-19 exposes India’s fragile federalism”, East Asia Forum, 5 November 2021: Authors explain how Indian federalism collapsed at the second wave of the pandemic.
  • Aastha Rathi, Saumya Avasthi, R P Pradhan, “COVID-19 pandemic: A test for Indian Federalism”, Centre for Public Policy Research, 19 October 2021: This short essay shows how Indian cooperative federalism was tested by case studies from 2020-2021, the nationwide lockdown and the vaccination drive.

Working Papers / Documents de travail

Opinions

News Articles / Article de presse

Other Sources / Autres sources

  • N. K. Singh, “The Many Faces of Indian Federalism during a Pandemic”, NCAER 18th India Policy Forum Lecture, 15 July 2021: The lecture gives an overview of the Indian federalism, explain the challenges that it faced with reference to the Constitution, and makes several recommendations for the future.

Italy / Italie

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

  • Cristina Fasone, “Coping with Disloyal Cooperation in the Midst of a Pandemic: The Italian Response”, Verfassungsblog, 8 March 2021: Looking back at the first year of pandemic, Fasone identifies a crucial problem of the Italian management of the disease and the related economic and social crises: the lack of loyal cooperation with regard to the relationship amongst the different levels of government.
  • Elisabeth Alber, “Action and Reaction: What Covid-19 can teach us about Italian regionalism”, UACES Territorial Politics Blog, 29 May 2020: Alber discusses how and by which instruments central and subnational authorities have (re)acted to the crisis. Through her reflections, she engages into the broader debate on what most recently has been labelled Italy’s “federal” regionalism by pointing out the lack of intergovernmental coordination.
  • Francesco Palermo, “Devolution and COVID-19: Italy: did the virus infect the regional system?”, Forum of Federations Blog, May 2020: Palermo explains the centralizing effects of the Italy’s response to COVID-19 and how the tensions between regions and central government might affect the governance even after the end of the crisis.

Kenya / Kenya

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

  • Rosa B. Osoro, “Devolution And Covid-19 Crisis: A Kenyan Perspective”, Forum of Federations Blog, May 2020: Osoro explains how the national government has strictly centralized the overall response process. She argues that there is need for concerted and deliberate intergovernmental approaches.

Malaysia / Malaysie

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

Mexico / Mexique

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

News Articles / Article de presse

Nepal / Népal

Research Papers & Reports / Documents de recherche & Rapports

  • Aline Coudouel, Peter Darvas, Sangeeta Goyal, Ali Hamandi, Soyesh Lakhey, Faraz Salahuddin, Maya Sherpa, Jyoti Maya Pandey, “Federalism and Public Expenditure for Human Development in Nepal: An Emerging Agenda”, The World Bank, 2021: This public expenditure review (PER) provides a diagnostic of the challenges facing Nepal’s human development sectors as they strive to improve human capital in a federal context. It makes recommendations which will be critical for Nepal to address the structural issues in human development, which have recently been highlighted by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. 
  • Anurag Acharya, Ashlea Brewer, Swechchha Dahal, and Ashim Pandey, “Federalism, conflict and peace in Nepal”, Saferworld, July 2020: This learning paper explores the interrelated nature of governance and conflict resolution in Nepal based on a data of over ten years. It also discusses the risks posed by COVID-19.

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

Working Papers / Documents de travail

Opinions

News Articles / Article de presse

Other Sources / Autres sources

Nigeria / Nigéria

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

  • Ernest Toochi Aniche, Victor Chidubem Iwuoha ,Ikenna Mike Alumona, Felicia Osondu Okwueze, “When All Hands Are Not on Deck: Intergovernmental Relations and the Fight against COVID-19 Pandemic in the Nigerian Federation”, Politikon, 16 December 2021: The objective of this study is to examine how the conflicting nature of intergovernmental relations is implicated in the level of implementation of containment policies/strategies towards the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria. Based on content analysis and the functional-process theory, the article argues that the cantankerous/imploding disconnects between the federal and state governments–obscuring the making and implementation of harmonised and coordinated pandemic containment policies–constitute key impediment to the fight against Covid-19 in Nigeria.
  • Ernest Toochi Aniche, Victor Chidubem Iwuoha & Kelechukwu Charles Obi, “Covid-19 containment policies in Nigeria: the role of conflictual federal–state relations in the fight against the pandemic”, Review of African Political Economy, 2021: This briefing explores how the administrative fight against Covid-19 in Nigeria, particularly the conflictual political economy of federalism in this mono-product/oil-dependent economy, has shaped the making and implementation of virus containment policies and strategies. The analysis shows that the disconnects between the federal and state governments have blocked a harmonised and coordinated containment response.
  • Ekoh Livinus Akajife, Dr Nnamani Desmond Okechukwu, Dr. O.A.U. Nnedum, “Covid-19 Pandemic, Federalism and Nigeria’s Leadership Challenges”, Nnadiebube Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2020: This paper examines the nexus between the global onslaught of the enraging pathogens and the leadership challenges still embedded in Nigeria’s federalism. Therefore, the general objective of the paper is to study Covid-19 pandemic, federalism and Nigeria’s leadership challenges.

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

Working Papers / Documents de travail

Pakistan

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

Working Papers / Documents de travail

News Articles / Article de presse

The Philippines / Les Philippines

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

  • Maria Ela L. Atienza, “The Philippines a Year under Lockdown”, Verfassungsblog, 26 April 2021: This post gives an overview of the legal response to the pandemic in Philippines and presents the regional and local governments’ role.

News Articles / Article de presse

Russia / Russie

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

  • Krill Koroteev, “A Year of Zeros? Legal Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Russia”, Verfassungsblog, 1 March 2021: The author explains how the federal government used the pandemic to strengthen its authority while leaving the implementation of measures to sub-state authorities.
  • Elena A. Kremyanskaya, “Pandemic as a Trigger for a Restart of Federalism in Russia?”, UACES Territorial Blog, 6 July 2020: Author explains how COVID-19 changed the dynamics of federalism in Russia.
  • Paul Kalinichenko, Elizaveta Moskovkina, “Russia – With Scepter and Corona”, Verfassungsblog, 23 May 2020: Kalinichenko and Moskovkina discuss Russia’s response to COVID-19 and explains the shift of responsibility for the consequences of the emergency from the President and his Administration, to the Federal Government and regional authorities.
  • Patrick Kennelly, “How Has Russia Responded to COVID-19?”, Lawfare Blog, 15 May 2020: Kennelly discusses Russia’s struggle with COVID-19 and focuses on the fact that Putin deferred to governors and mayors for a solution.
  • Galina Kurlyandskaya, “'Emergency Federalism, Russian Style'”, Forum of Federations Blog, May 2020: Kurlyandskaya explains the impact of the COVID crisis on the Russian federation and focuses on “top-down” approach of federal government.

Working Papers / Documents de travail

Opinions

  • Paul Goble, “Pandemic Has Further Undermined Federalism In Russia”, Euraisa Review, 28 December 2020: Based on Pavel Luzin’s research, Goble explains that the pandemic will further increase the center’s power on regions because regions do not have enough resources to fulfill their responsibilities related to the pandemic.
  • Fred Weir, “As Russia reopens, Putin takes a back seat to local leaders”, The Christian Science Monitor, 22 June 2020: Special correspondent explains how Putin is deferring responsibility to local leaders in the management of reopening.

South Africa / Afrique du Sud

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

Spain / Espagne

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

Research Papers & Reports / Documents de recherche & Rapports

  • Fernando Jiménez Sánchez est, “The Political Management of the Covid-19 Crisis in Spain” [.pdf], Fondation Robert Schuman, April 2020: Author provides a limited and provisional analysis of the impact of COVID-19 related measures on the system of government and highlights the lack of coordination between regions.

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

Working Papers / Documents de travail

  • Sandra León, Amuitz Garmendia Madariaga, “Popular Reactions To External Threats in Federations”, SocArXiv Papers, 1 June 2020: Authors argue that in search of a more effective response against the threat, citizens coordinate their preferences around the centralization of authority boundaries in the federation. They test this argument using an on-line survey experiment in Spain, a country where the threat caused by COVID-19 has operated on top of non-negligible internal threats.

News Articles / Article de presse

Switzerland / Suisse

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

  • Markus Schwaninger, Lukas Schoenenberger, “Cybernetic crisis management in a federal system—Insights from the Covid pandemic”, Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Vol. 39, No. 1, December 2021: Authors studies crisis management based on the case of the Swiss Federation through four waves of the pandemic. The article concentrates on three research questions: (1) How is the management of the Covid-19-Crisis organized in Switzerland? (2) How effective is this organization in coping with the dynamics of emergency? (3) What lessons can be learned for the design of a crisis management in the future?
  • Yasmine Willi, Gero Nischik, Dominik Braunschweiger, Marco Pütz, “Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis: Transformative Governance in Switzerland”, Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie, Vol. 111, No. 3, 2020: Discussing examples from Switzerland, the article illustrates how policy responses to COVID‐19 reflect the uncertain and experimental forms of governance that have emerged.
  • Felix Uhlmann, Eva Scheifele, “Legislative response to Coronavirus (Switzerland)”, The Theory and Practice of Legislation, Vol. 8, No. 1-2, 2020: The paper focuses on the federal legislature while also addressing how federalism shaped the legislative response.

Research Papers & Reports / Documents de recherche & Rapports

  • Lukas Schmid, Céline Neuenschwander, Nina Kalbermatter, “The Pandemic as a Federal Learning Curve”, Avenir Suisse, 15 December 2021: Authors explain that to be better prepared for future crises there will have to be more thorough crisis preparedness, clearer responsibilities, and efforts to disentangle federalist structures in Switzerland.

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

Opinions

  • Vincent Bourquin, « Crise du covid: questionner le fédéralisme », Le Temps, 17 février 2022 : Après l’annonce du Conséil fédéral pour la levée des mesures, cet article analyse le rôle du fédéralisme dans la gestion de la pandémie.
  • Antoine Menuisier, “Face au Covid, le fédéralisme jusqu'à l'absurde?”, Watson, 13 décembre 2021: L’auteur commente sur la conférence de presse donnée conjointement le 13 décembre à Berne par le conseiller fédéral Alain Berset, en charge des questions sanitaires, et le président de la Conférence des directeurs cantonaux de la santé, Lukas Engelberger, à propos du Covid.
  • Christoph A. Schaltegger, Mark Schelker, « Covid-19 : quelle est l’utilité du fédéralisme en temps de crise ? », La Vie économique, 26 avril 2021 : Les auteurs adoptent une approche mitigée contre les critiques qui blâment le fédéralisme.
  • Olivier Delacrétaz, « Deux fédéralismes, et même trois », 24 Heures, 2 mars 2021 : L’auteur analyse le «Sonderbund des terrasses» voulu par quelques cantons.
  • Lise Bailat, « Le fédéralisme, champion du yo-yo », 24 Heures, 19 février 2021 : L’auteure soutient que le fédéralisme suisse n’est toujours pas prêt pour une troisième vague.
  • Christoph A. Schaltegger, Mark Schelker et Yannick Schmutz, « Les errements et tourments du fédéralisme suisse », Le Temps, 25 janvier 2021 : Les auteurs soutiennent que la crise COVID-19 révèle deux problèmes classiques du fédéralisme, et qu’il faut en revenir à un fédéralisme responsabilisé.
  • Philippe Bach, « Limites du fédéralisme », Le Courrier, 13 janvier 2021 : Bach fait une analyse des dernières mesures annoncées par le Conseil fédéral.
  • Yvette Jaggi, « Covid ébranle-t-il le fédéralisme helvétique ? », Domaine Public, 22 décembre 2020 : Jaggi soutient que le fédéralisme suisse résiste bien au stresstest de la pandémie.
  • Marc-Olivier Buffat, « Le Covid-19 menace-t-il aussi le fédéralisme? », 24 Heures, 2 Novembre 2020 : L’auteur explique pourquoi l’abandon des pouvoirs cantonaux au profit du Conseil fédéral est regrettable.
  • Hans-Georg Betz, “The Perils of Federalism in Time of Pandemic”, Fair Observer, 27 October 2020: Betz argues that Swiss federalism has performed poorly during the pandemic, but there are alternative ways to handle this crisis even within federal systems.
  • Laetitia Desfontaine, « Le fédéralisme suisse au temps du coronavirus », Dossier publics, 8 septembre 2020 : L’auteure se concentre sur les frictions entre les autorités cantonales et la Confédération mises en lumière par la crise sanitaire.
  • Pierre Yves-Bosshard, « Le fédéralisme à l’épreuve de la crise sanitaire », Domaine Public, 11 avril 2020 : Bosshard explique comment la répartition des compétences ont changé au cours de l’histoire de la Confédération en matière de la lutte contre les épidémies.
  • Frédéric Ney, « Avec le Covid-19, le fédéralisme d’exécution est-il «au pied du mur»? », Heidi.News, 09 Avril 2020 : L’avocat s’interroge sur l’exécution des mesures prises au niveau fédéral par les cantons et demande si ce temps d’exception justifierait la mainmise de pouvoir par le gouvernement fédéral.

News Articles / Article de presse

Other Sources / Autres sources

United Kingdom / Royaume-Uni

Research Papers & Reports / Documents de recherche & Rapports

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

  • Catriona Mullay, “No Unity in the United Kingdom”, Verfassungsblog, 26 June 2020: Mullay discusses the disunity in the British response to coronavirus, focusing on the Scottish and British governments. She argues that COVID-19 illustrates the political and legal instability of the British constitution as the country exits the European Union.
  • Coree Brown Swan, Daniel Cetrà, “Speaking for the Union: Unionist Discourses and Covid-19”, Centre on Constitutional Change, 8 June 2020: Authors explains how Unionist voices have made a case for state unity during the Covid19 pandemic.
  • Akash Paun, “Five key questions about coronavirus and devolution”, The Constitution Unit Blog, 31 May 2020: Akash Paun argues that the COVID-19 crisis has raised five key questions about the politics of devolution at a time when efficient and effective intergovernmental relations are crucial.
  • Jim Gallagher, “Coronavirus and the Constitution”, Centre on Constitutional Change, 27 May 2020: In this blog post, Jim Gallagher provides an overview of the UK and devolved governments' approach to COVID-19 and discusses how the pandemic is likely to impact upon devolution in the UK.
  • Richard Parry, “Scotland, the last in line to relax lockdown”, Centre on Constitutional Change, 22 May 2020: Richard Parry discusses how the tide has turned throughout the UK in favour of relaxations as governments try to control future events while being forced to justify their earlier decisions.
  • James Mitchell, “Leadership, learning and knowledge: lessons from COVID-19”, Centre on Constitutional Change, 17 May 2020: Mitchell argues that rather than focusing on whether devolved policies are designed to undermine or sustain the Union, refocusing on some of the basic policy-making questions and issues are more necessary.
  • Richard Parry, “Johnson gives an opening to covid policy dealignment”, Centre on Constitutional Change, 12 May 2020: Author reviews the developments on devolved governments’ responses to the pandemic and Johnson’s reactions.
  • Jack Sheldon, Michael Kenny, “Why have the UK's governments diverged on easing lockdown?”, Centre on Constitutional Change, 11 May 2020: Authors explain why Boris Johnson’s televised address on a phased approach to easing lockdown has sparked public disagreements with the devolved governments, and the implications these differences might have for future relations between the governments of the UK.
  • Richard Parry, “Contrasting responses to a common virus”, Centre on Constitutional Change, 4 May 2020: Parry discusses the varied responses to the pandemic between the devolved nations in the UK and beyond, and what this tells about the relationship between the political system and expert advice.
  • Michael Kenny, Jack Sheldon, “Territorial governance and the coronavirus crisis”, Centre on Constitutional Change, 8 April 2020: Authors discuss the seemingly coordinated approach from governments throughout the UK in response to the coronavirus and argue that the response may not be as harmonious as it seems.
  • Paul Anderson, “Territorial Politics, Coronavirus and the UK: Cooperation amidst Crisis”, UACES Territorial Politics, 8 May 2020: Anderson focuses on the divergence from UK-wide approaches, mainly the debate on exit strategy.
  • Clive Grace, “Devolution and the COVID-19 crisis: A View From the UK”, Forum of Federations Blog, April 2020: Author explores the unifying effect of the crisis as well the differences that arose within the UK.
  • Duncan Fairgrieve, “The U.K. Races to Catch Up on COVID-19”, The Regulatory Review, 30 April 2020: Fairgrieve discusses the measures taken by the UK government and mentions the challenges that have arisen due to devolved powers.
  • Paul F. Scott, “Fighting COVID 19 – Legal Powers and Risks: The United Kingdom”, Verfassungsblog, 21 March 2020: Scott discusses the early responses to the pandemic in the UK and the challenges that the devolution may cause to this response.

Opinions

News Articles / Article de presse

Other Sources / Autres sources

  • Dave Busfield-Birch (ed.), Constitution Unit. Monitor, Issue No. 75, July 2020: The latest Monitor focuses on the UK Constitution under COVID-19. It also addresses how the UK devolution is affected by the pandemic.

United States / États-Unis

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

  • Steven H. Woolf, “The Growing Influence of State Governments on Population Health in the United States”, JAMA Network, March 2022: The article explains the influence of state governments on health through a comparison of death rates during the pandemic. 
  • Nancy J. Knauer, “The Federal Response to COVID-19: Lessons from the Pandemic”, Hastings Law Journal, Vol. 73, 2022: This article argues that the United States’ federal response was not so much a failure of policy per se, but rather a failure of political will. The federal government had a robust pandemic policy in place; it simply chose not to follow it. This failure of political will illustrates the dangers that arise when public health measures are politicized and weaponized for partisan advantage and demands strong interventions to ensure federal accountability and transparency. 
  • Jeffrey Clemens, Stan Veuger, “Politics and the distribution of federal funds: Evidence from federal legislation in response to COVID-19”, Journal of Public Economics, Vol. 204, December 2021: Through the study of the COVID-19 relief legislation, the article provides evidence of a substantial small-state bias: an additional Senator or Representative per million residents predicts an additional 670 dollars in aid per capita across the four relief packages. Alignment with the Democratic party predicts increases in states’ allocations through legislation designed after the January 2021 political transition. This benefit of alignment with a unified federal government operates through the American Rescue Plan Act’s size and through the formulas it used to distribute transportation and general relief funds. ·
  • Lawrence D. Brown, “Fomenters of Fiasco: Explaining the Failed Policy Response to COVID-19 in the United States”, International Review of Public Policy, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2021: The author argues that policyresponses to COVID-19 in the United States have been constrained by electoral calculi that run from the executive to the legislative branch of the central government and thence also to the federal bureaucracy and the states.
  • Tom Barth, Kevin Staley, Chris Gonyar, John Combs, Shawn Kiley, “Government Response to Covid-19: Gaps Revealed”, Journal of Emergency Management, Vol. 19, No. 7, 2021: Drawing on the diverse perspectives of four emergency management professionals and a public administration academic, gaps revealed by the United States’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed. These gaps range from political theory regarding federalism to fundamental questions around the public communication of risk management and the provision of mass shelter and care.
  • Nathan Myers, Tonya E. Thornton, “Accountability, Polarization, And Federalism: Oversight During and After the Covid-19 Pandemic”, Journal of Emergency Management, Vol. 19, No. 7, 2021: Focusing on the need for the documentation of lessons learned from the pandemic regarding the need for coordination at the national level, this commentary recommends a bipartisan, joint after-action report signed by state governors as a mechanism to preserve state experiences.
  • Thomas A. Birkland, Kristin Taylor, Deserai A Crow, Rob DeLeo, “Governing in a Polarized Era: Federalism and the Response of U.S. State and Federal Governments to the COVID-19 Pandemic”, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Vol. 51, No. 4, Fall 2021: This article argues that it is not the federalism to blame for the USA’s failures, but the political dynamics of “kaleidoscopic federalism,” under which there is no single prevailing principle of federalism.
  • Beverly A. Cigler, “Fighting COVID-19 in the United States with Federalism and Other Constitutional and Statutory Authority”, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Vol. 51, No. 4, Fall 2021: In this article, the author argues that a president has significant constitutional and statutory authority for pandemic preparedness and, by law, is responsible for leading a coordinated national response necessary to a pandemic.
  • Nicholas Jacobs, “Federalism, Polarization, and Policy Responsibility during COVID-19: Experimental and Observational Evidence from the United States”, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Vol. 51, No. 4, Fall 2021: This article considers the ways in which partisanship structured public attitudes about the United States’ multiple governments as each tried to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 during the spring and summer of 2020.
  • Olga Shvetsova, Andrei Zhirnov, Frank R. Giannelli, Michael A. Catalano, Olivia Catalano, “Governor's Party, Policies, and COVID-19 Outcomes: Further Evidence of an Effect”, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, October 2021: This study connects the aggregate strength of public health policies taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. states to the governors’ party affiliations and to state-level outcomes.
  • Carol S. Weissert, Matthew J Uttermark, Kenneth R Mackie, Alexandra Artiles, “Governors in Control: Executive Orders, State-Local Preemption, and the COVID-19 Pandemic”, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Volume 51, Issue 3, Summer 2021: Authors examine all governors’ executive orders affecting local governments in the first five months of the 2020 pandemic, and they find that preemption did occur, especially in the early months of the pandemic.
  • Mariely López-Santana, Philip Rocco, “Fiscal Federalism and Economic Crises in the United States: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic and Great Recession”, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Volume 51, Issue 3, Summer 2021: This article reviews the pandemic’s fiscal effects on subnational governments, as well as the federal government’s response.
  • James G. Hodge Jr., “Nationalizing Public Health Emergency Legal Responses”, Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Vol. 49, No. 2, Summer 2021: The article discusses the following question: the fight for public health primacy in U.S. emergency preparedness and response to COVID-19 centers on which level of government — federal or state — should “call the shots” to quell national emergencies?
  • Jeffrey Clemens, Benedic Ippolito, Stan Veuger, “Medicaid and fiscal federalism during the COVID-19 pandemic”, Public Budgeting & Finance, 18 May 2021: The article analyzes the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on state and local government finances, with an emphasis on health spending needs and the role of the Medicaid program.
  • John Kincaid, J. Wesley Leckrone, “Partisan Fractures in U.S. Federalism’s COVID-19 Policy Responses”, State and Local Government Review, Vol. 52, No. 4, 2020: The paper argues that the comparatively poor U.S. response to COVID-19 was not due to federal inaction or a flawed federal system per se but to party polarization and presidential and gubernatorial preferences that frustrated federalism’s capacity to respond more effectively.
  • Anne Daguerre, Tim Conlan, “Federalism in a Time of Coronavirus: The Trump Administration, Intergovernmental Relations, and the Fraying Social Compact” State and Local Government Review, Vol. 52, No. 4, 2020: This article examines Trump administration social welfare policies to better understand their implications for American federalism and the evolving welfare state.
  • John Agnew, “Anti-Federalist Federalism: American “Populism” and the Spatial Contradictions of US Government in the Time of Covid-19”, Geographical Review, Vol. 111, No. 4, 2021: The article explains that rather than command and coordination across tiers of government, the states have been left to cope as best they can without much of anything in terms of coherent and consistent national/federal leadership during the pandemic.
  • Paul C. Erwin, Kenneth W. Mucheck, and Ross C. Brownson, “Different Responses to COVID-19 in Four US States: Washington, New York, Missouri, and Alabama”, American Journal of Public Health, 28 January 2021: The article explains how CDC played a major role in the pandemic response even though the public health–related powers granted to the federal government are substantially less.
  • Stephanie Cooper Blum, “Federalism: Fault or Feature -- An Analysis of Whether the United States Should Implement a Federal Pandemic Statute”, Washburn Law Journal, Vol. 60 No.1, 2020: This article addresses the legal and policy questions of enacting a federal pandemic statute. It provides guidance to public health experts and lawmakers should they decide that a national and more coordinated response would be helpful as the United States confronts COVID-19 and other pandemics.
  • James G. Hodge, “Nationalizing Public Health Emergency Legal Responses”, Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Vol. 49, No. 2, 2021: The fight for public health primacy in U.S. emergency preparedness and response to COVID-19 centers on which level of government—federal or state—should “call the shots” to quell national emergencies? Competing and conflicting priorities have contributed to a year-long federalism firestorm. As the melee subsides, a more dominant federal role is a predictable, long-term consequence in the battle plan for the next major public health threat.
  • Ruthnande Kessa, Abdul-Akeem Sadiq, Jungwon Yeo, “The Importance of Vertical and Horizontal Collaboration: United States’ Response to COVID-19 Pandemic”, Chinese Public Administration Review, Vol. 12, No. 1, 2021: In this commentary, drawing on the literature on collaboration, authors discuss the importance of vertical and horizontal collaboration by examining the U.S. response to COVID-19.
  • Ryan D. Williamson, John C. Morris, “Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic for Federalism and Infrastructure: A Call to Action”, Public Works Management & Policy, Vol. 26, No. 1, 2021: Authors argue that the Trump administration’s approach to federalism (“transactional federalism”) —highlighted by the pandemic—is incapable of efficiently and effectively addressing state needs and those needs are only going to grow as a result, further exacerbating the problem.
  • Michael A. Hansen, Isabelle Johansson, Kalie Sadowski, Joseph Blaszcynski, Sarah Meyer, “The Partisan Impact on Local Government Dissemination of COVID-19 Information: Assessing U.S. County Government Websites”, Canadian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 54, No. 1, 2021: This study explores the relationship between local government dissemination of COVID-19. information and partisanship through an analysis of official county government websites in the US.
  • Nancy J. Knauer, “The COVID-19 Pandemic and Federalism: Who Decides?”, NYU Journal of Legislation and Public Policy, Vol. 23, No. 1, 2020: This Article examines the role of federalism in the early days of the COVID19 pandemic in the United States. It explores the dangers that arise when disaster relief is politicized and proposes failsafe mechanisms to prevent key institutions from abdicating their responsibility to the American people.
  • Stephanie Cooper Blum, “Federalism: Fault or Feature -- An Analysis of Whether the United States Should Implement a Federal Pandemic Statute”, Washburn Law Journal, Vol. 60, 2020: This article addresses the legal and policy questions of enacting a federal pandemic statute. It provides guidance to public health experts and lawmakers should they decide that a national and more coordinated response would be helpful as the United States confronts COVID-19 and other pandemics.
  • Nicole Huberfeld, Sarah H. Gordon, David K. Jones, “Federalism Complicates the Response to the COVID-19 Health and Economic Crisis: What Can Be Done?”, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, Vol. 45, No, 6, 2020: Authors argue that Federalism has complicated the US response to the novel coronavirus and explore near-, middle-, and long-term policy options to mitigate federalism's harmful side effects.
  • Luke Fowler, Jaclyn J. Kettler, Stephanie L. Witt, “Pandemics and Partisanship: Following Old Paths into Uncharted Territory”, American Politics Research, October 2020: The authors show that the timing of gubernatorial actions in response to COVID-19 is telling about how partisanship is shaping the way elected officials are reacting to this pandemic.
  • Cynthia J. Bowling, Jonathan M. Fisk, John C. Morris, “Seeking Patterns in Chaos: Transactional Federalism in the Trump Administration’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic”, The American Review of Public Administration, Vol. 50, No. 6-7, 2020: Authors contend that the actions of the Trump administration, and its relationships with states and local governments, can best be understood through a lens of what they refer to as “transactional federalism,” in which federalism relationships are governed by a set of exchanges between the president and states, and between states.
  • J. Edwin Benton, “Challenges to Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations and Takeaways Amid the COVID-19 Experience”, The American Review of Public Administration, Vol. 50, No. 6-7, 2020: Benton provides an early assessment of how national, state, and local governments have worked together since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently a “report card” of sorts on the functioning of intergovernmental relations in the US.
  • Daniel J. Mallinson, “Cooperation and Conflict in State and Local Innovation During COVID-19”, The American Review of Public Administration, Vol. 50, No. 6-7, 2020: Mallinson discusses how scholarship on state politics and policy, intergovernmental relations, and federalism provides necessary context for understanding governmental responses to COVID-19.
  • J. Kevin Corder, Matthew S. Mingus, Daria Blinova, “Factors motivating the timing of COVID-19 shelter in place orders by U.S. Governors”, Policy Design and Practice, Vol. 3, No. 3, 2020: This article attempts to isolate and estimate the impact of political party control of state government on the length of time it took U.S. states to issue shelter-in-place orders (SIPOs) in an effort to control the spread of COVID-19.
  • James R. Maxeiner, “America’s Covid-19 preexisting vulnerability: a government of men, not laws”, The Theory and Practice of Legislation, Vol. 8, No. 1-2, 2020: This article summarises the legislative-like responses to covid-19 and identifies systemic failures, including the lack of cooperation amongst constituent units.
  • Barry Sullivan, “COVID-19 and American Democracy”, Il diritto dell’economia, Year 66, No. 102 (2/2020): The article examines the impact of the sanitary emergency caused by the diffusion of Covid-19 in the United States under a political, constitutional and administrative perspective. It also includes a section dedicated to the American federalism and presidential leadership.
  • Greg Goelzhauser, David M Konisky, “The State of American Federalism 2019–2020: Polarized and Punitive Intergovernmental Relations”, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Vol. 50, No. 3, Summer 2020: the authors introduce the concept of punitive federalism and discuss its application to contemporary public policy. They also highlight federalism implications surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Kirsten H. Engel, “Climate Federalism in the Time of COVID-19: Can the States “Save” American Climate Policy?”, Northern Kentucky Law Review, Vol. 47, No. 2, 2020: Author discusses the role that state and local authorities can play in the climate policy, and discusses the effect of the pandemic on this role.
  • Philip Rocco, Daniel Béland, Alex Waddan, “Stuck in neutral? Federalism, policy instruments, and counter-cyclical responses to COVID-19 in the United States”, Policy and Society, Vol. 29, No. 3, 2020: Authors discuss why it is necessary to change the intergovernmental fiscal policy to tackle the problems raised by the pandemic.
  • Donald F. Kettl, “States Divided: The Implications of American Federalism for Covid-19”, Public Administration Review, Vol. 80, No. 4, 2020: Kettl discusses fundamental questions about the role of the federal government's leadership in an issue that was truly national in scope. He asks whether varied state reactions were in the public interest.
  • Rebecca L. Haffajee, Michelle M. Mello, “Thinking Globally, Acting Locally — The U.S. Response to Covid-19”, The New England Journal of Medicine, 2 April 2020: Authors discuss the weaknesses of federalist system of public health governance in the US as it surfaced during this pandemic.

Books & Book Chapters / Livres & chapitres d’ouvrages collectifs

  • Lindsay F. Wiley, “Federalism in Pandemic Prevention and Response”, in S. Burris, S. de Guia, L. Gable, D.E. Levin, W.E. Parmet, N.P. Terry (eds), Assessing Legal Responses to COVID-19 (Boston: Public Health Law Watch), August 2020: Wiley examines the tensions between federal and state responses to the pandemic and makes recommendations to each level of government to fix the problems.
  • Danielle Allen, Democracy in the Time of Coronavirus, The University of Chicago Press, 2021: Danielle Allen untangles the US government’s COVID-19 victories and failures to offer a plan for creating a more resilient democratic polity—one that can better respond to both the present pandemic and future crises. In an analysis spanning from ancient Greece to the Reconstruction Amendments and the present day, Allen argues for the relative effectiveness of collaborative federalism over authoritarian compulsion and for the unifying power of a common cause.

Research Papers & Reports / Documents de recherche & Rapports

  • Doug Badger and Robert E. Moffit, “COVID-19 and Federalism: Public Officials’ Accountability and Comparative Performance”, Backgrounder (The Heritage Foundation), No. 3638, 26 July 2021: Authors argue that federalism helps show the efficacy of various approaches in the pandemic. While the federal government rightly relaxed regulations and promoted rapid production of vaccines, too many bureaucratic barriers hindered an effective response.
  • Jeffrey Clemens, Benedic N. Ippolito & Stan Veuger, “Medicaid and Fiscal Federalism During the COVID-19 Pandemic”, National Bureau of Economic Research, April 2021: The article analyzes the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on state and local government finances, with an emphasis on health spending needs and the role of the Medicaid program.
  • Sevion DaCosta, Tara Mehra, Marshall Bessey, “Federalism 2021: COVID-19 Mandates”, Rose Institute, 19 March 2021: This paper explores, using a theoretical approach based on current circumstances, the questions regarding the constitutionality of a national mask and vaccinations mandate.
  • Trish Riley, “Restoring Federalism to Win the War against COVID-19”, National Academy for State Health Policy, 26 January 2021: This article reflects state variations in priorities and capacities, with many developing comprehensive approaches while others resisted a more fulsome approach to COVID-19 prevention. It is written based on interviews of a diverse group of state officials from a cross section of states.
  • Jeffrey Clemens, Stan Veuger, “Fiscal federalism and the COVID-19 shock in the US”, Vox Eu & CEPR, 28 September 2020: The article uses Congressional Budget Office projections of consumption and personal income to explain the shock and to forecast sales and income tax bases and revenue for all of the states.
  • Danielle Allen, Anne-Marie Slaughter, Josh Simons, and Carmel Shachar, “Federalism Is an Asset”, Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics White Papers, 28 April 2020: Authors argue that a balanced federal system between a centralized and decentralized response is precisely what the US needs to tackle COVID-19 crisis.
  • William Arthur, “US federalism complicates cooperation on COVID-19”, Oxford Analytica, 21 April 2020: Arthur points out the challenges that US federalism creates for a coordinated response.
  • Justin Ross, Victoria Perez, “ Federalism and Polycentric Government in a Pandemic”, Mercatus Center COVID-19 Policy Brief Series, 3 April 2020: Writers propose policy solutions for local governments on intergovernmental cooperation and local finances in the US context.

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

Working Papers / Documents de travail

Opinions

News Articles / Article de presse

Other Sources / Autres sources

5. Comparing federations
Les fédérations comparées

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

  • Canada & United States / Canada & Etats-Unis: Joseph Immormino, Nicholas Stowell, “Political capacity and pandemic containment: comparing and contrasting COVID-19 in Canada and the United States”, Canadian Foreign Policy Journal: 13 February 2022: This research adapts a Generalized Additive Model (GAM) to the unique case of North American neighbors and illustrates the role that timely policy adoption and the state’s capacity to administer policy programs play in effective pandemic containment. By applying their empirical design sub-nationally, authors demonstrate that their findings are robust to comparisons made within individual nations, as well as across an aggregation of the two countries’ subnational units.
  • Multiple countries: Santiago Lago-Peñas, Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Agnese Sacchi, “Country performance during the Covid-19 pandemic: externalities, coordination, and the role of institutions”, Economics of Governance, 10 December 2021: Authors focus on the role played by institutions at the country level in fighting the spread of Covid-19 by making policy coordination more difficult or, on the contrary, more effective. They observe that although federal countries do appear to have had consistently greater difficulties than unitary countries and overall, the role played by fiscal and administrative decentralization is not robust, but this latter is a result conditioned by the lack of data availability.
  • United States & Brazil/ États-Unis & Brésil: Daniel Béland, Philip Rocco, Catarina Ianni Segatto, Alex Waddan, “TRUMP, BOLSONARO, AND THE FRAMING OF THE COVID-19 CRISIS: How Political Institutions Shaped Presidential Strategies”, World Affairs, 19 November 2021: In this article, authors examine the extent to which two institutions in each country––federalism and the party system––impacted the ways in which they framed the COVID-19 crisis and policy responses to it in 2020, especially during the first months of the pandemic.
  • Belgique et Pays-Bas / Belgium and the Netherlands: Valérie Pattyn, Joery Matthys, Steven Van Hecke, « Gestion de crise à enjeux élevés dans les « Pays-Bas » : Comparaison des réponses gouvernementales au COVID-19 », Revue Internationale des Sciences Administratives, Vol. 87, No. 3, 2021 : L’article démontre que la différence dans la gestion de la crise fait écho aux différents types de consociativisme des pays, mais aussi que le fédéralisme belge et la décentralisation néerlandaise ont empêché une réponse véritablement cohérente.
  • United States, Canada & Australia / États-Unis, Canada et Australie: Andre Lecours, Daniel Béland, Alan Fenna, Tracy Beck Fenwick, Mireille Paquet, Philip Rocco, Alex Waddan, “Explaining Intergovernmental Conflict in the COVID-19 Crisis: The United States, Canada, and Australia”, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Vol. 51, No. 4, Fall 2021: The Covid-19 pandemic produced more significant immediate intergovernmental conflict in the U.S. than in Australia and Canada. This article considers three variables for this cross-national divergence: presidentialism versus parliamentarism; vertical party integration; and strength of intergovernmental arrangements.
  • Australia, Canada, Germany & Switzerland / Australie, Canada, Allemange et Suisse: Johanna Schnabel, Yvonne Hegele, “Explaining Intergovernmental Coordination during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Responses in Australia, Canada, Germany, and Switzerland”, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Vol. 51, No. 4, Fall 2021: By examining the introduction and the subsequent easing of containment measures and the procurement of medical supplies in Australia, Canada, Germany, and Switzerland, this article identifies the circumstances under which intergovernmental coordination occurs.
  • Brazil, Mexico & United States / Brésil, Mexique et États-Unis: Cyril Bennouna, Agustina Giraudy, Eduardo Moncada, Eva Rios, Richard Snyder, Paul Testa, “Pandemic Policymaking in Presidential Federations: Explaining Subnational Responses to Covid-19 in Brazil, Mexico, and the United States”, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Vol. 51, No. 4, Fall 2021: Introducing a novel framework for explaining pandemic policymaking, the study shows the central importance of political parties, presidential power, and governors’ coalitions in determining state-level policy stringency.
  • France, Spain, Italy, Germany & United Kingdom / France, Espagne, Italie, Allemagne et Royaume-Uni: Davide Vampa, “COVID-19 and Territorial Policy Dynamics in Western Europe: Comparing France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom”, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Vol. 51, No. 4, Fall 2021: This article seeks to assess and explain territorial policy dynamics in five European countries—Italy, Spain, Germany, France and the United Kingdom—from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic up to early 2021.
  • Germany & Italy / Allemagne et Italie: Katharina Kuhn, Irene Morlino, “Decentralisation in Times of Crisis: Asset Or Liability? The Case of Germany and Italy During Covid-19”, Swiss Political Science Review, October 2021: Situated within this theoretical debate and based on the analysis of legal acts, political decisions, and relevant national news media articles between March and August 2020 in Germany and Italy, this research note shows that, counterintuitively, more decentralisation does not necessarily translate into more legal and political stress during pandemic management.
  • Brazil and Mexico / Brésil et Mexique: Felicia Marie Knaul, Michael Touchton, Héctor Arreola-Ornelas, Rifat Atun, Renzo JC Calderon Anyosa, Julio Frenk et al., “Punt Politics as Failure of Health System Stewardship: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic Response in Brazil and Mexico”, The Lancet Regional Health – Americas, Vol. 4, 2021: Authors present a new concept, Punt Politics, and apply it to the COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) in two epicenters of the pandemic: Mexico and Brazil. Punt Politics refers to national leaders in federal systems deferring or deflecting responsibility for health systems decision-making to sub-national entities without evidence or coordination.
  • United States and South Korea / États-Unis et Corée du Sud: Sanghee Park, Luke Fowler, “Political and administrative decentralization and responses to COVID-19: comparison of the United States and South Korea”, International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior, September 2021: This study explains the variation of government responses to the pandemic by focusing on how centralization/decentralization in politics and administration creates conflicts and coordination problems. Specifically, the authors make comparisons between the U.S. and South Korea to reveal differences in macro-level structures and associated responses.
  • Italy & Spain & Italie et Espagne: Mattia Casula & Serafín Pazos-Vidal, “Assessing the Multi-level Government Response to the COVID-19 Crisis: Italy and Spain Compared”, International Journal of Public Administration, Vol. 44, No. 11-12, 2021: This article compares the functioning of the intergovernmental systems in Italy and Spain facing the COVID-19 crisis. Combining the public administration literature on policy learning and multi-level governance with that on the institutional collective action framework, this article analyses if and how Italy and Spain have reacted and learned from the external pressures of the pandemic, leading to institutional adjustments to the respective multi-level governance systems in the de-escalation of the first emergency phase.
  • Multiple countries: Olga Shvetsova, Andrei Zhirnov, Julie VanDusky-Allen, Abdul Basit Adeel et al., “Federal Institutions and Strategic Policy Responses to COVID-19 Pandemic”, Frontiers in Political Science, Vol. 3, 2021: This essay examines the policy response of the federal and regional governments in federations to the COVID-19 crisis. Authors theorize that the COVID-19 policy response in federations is an outcome of strategic interaction among the federal and regional incumbents in the shadow of their varying accountability for health and the repercussions from the disruptive consequences of public health measures.
  • Multiple countries: Philip Rocco, Jessica A J Rich, Katarzyna Klasa, Kenneth A Dubin, Daniel Béland, ”Who Counts Where? COVID-19 Surveillance in Federal Countries”, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 21 May 2021: This study examines how subnational governments in federal democracies collect and report data on COVID-19 cases and mortality associated with COVID-19.
  • France & Germany /France & Allemagne: Nils C. Bandelow, Patrick Hassenteufel and Johanna Hornung, “Patterns of Democracy Matter in the COVID-19 Crisis: A Comparison of French and German Policy Processes”, International Review of Public Policy, Vol.3, No. 1, 2021: Through a comparison of France and Germany, the article highlights the effects of different patterns of democracy and attempts to show the ways in which the national institutional setting, particularly federalism and centralization, contributes to decision-making.
  • Austria, Germany & Switzerland /Autriche, Allemagne & Suisse: Yvonne Hegele, Johanna Schnabel, “Federalism and the management of the COVID-19 crisis: centralisation, decentralisation and (non-)coordination”, West European Politics, Vol. 4, No. 5-6, 2021: To shed light on how Austria, Germany, and Switzerland managed COVID-19, this paper distinguishes two dimensions of federal decision making: centralised/decentralised and unilateral/coordinated decision making. Drawing on official government documents and press reports, it examines decisions on the introduction of containment measures and their subsequent easing during the first wave.
  • Bangladesh, India & Pakistan /Bangladesh, Inde & Pakistan: Jean N.Lee, Mahreen Mahmud, Jonathan Morduch, Saravana Ravindran, Abu S. Shonchoy, “Migration, externalities, and the diffusion of COVID-19 in South Asia”, Journal of Public Economies, Vol. 193, January 2021: The article shows how migration data can be used to predict coronavirus hotspots.
  • United States & New Zealand /États-Unis & Nouvelle Zélande: Richard W. Parker, “Why America’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic Failed: Lessons from New Zealand’s Success”, Administrative Law Review, Vol 73, No.1, 2021: The article offers an insight into NZ’s success and compares this response to the US.
  • Canada, United States, Mexico /Canada, États-Unis, Méxique: Daniel Béland, Gregory P. Marchildon, Anahely Medrano, Philip Rocco, “COVID-19, Federalism, and Health Care Financing in Canada, the United States, and Mexico”, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, Vol. 23, No. 2, 2021: This paper argues that federal health financing regimes differ in ways that are shaping the agenda for post-pandemic reforms. The analysis, which focuses on health care financing in three federal countries (Canada, the United States, and Mexico), explores the current and potential future impact of COVID-19 on existing policy legacies.
  • Belgium & the Netherlands / Belgique & Pays-Bas: Toon Van Overbeke, Diederik Stadig, “High politics in the Low Countries: COVID-19 and the politics of strained multi-level policy cooperation in Belgium and the Netherlands”, European Policy Analysis, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2020: Authors argue that efficient multi‐level policy cooperation in both countries has run up against the limits of existing institutions, leading to significant political grievances.
  • Canada & United States /Canada & États-Unis: Abdul Basit Adeel et al., “COVID-19 Policy Response and the Rise of the Sub-National Governments”, Canadian Public Policy, Vol. 46, No. 4, 2020: The article examines the roles of sub-national and national governments in Canada and the United States vis-à-vis the protective public health response in the onset phase of the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The article’s finding is that the sub-national contribution to policy is more important for both the United States and Canada than are their national-level policies, and that the institutional origin of the policies as evidenced by the COVID-19 response differs greatly between the two countries and has implications for the evolution of federalism in each.
  • Canada, France & Belgium / Canada, France & Belgique: Zachary Desson, Emmi Weller, Peter McMeekin, Mehdi Ammi, “An analysis of the policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in France, Belgium, and Canada”, Health Policy and Technology, Vol. 9, No. 3, 2020: This paper presents an overview and comparative analysis of the epidemiological situation and the policy responses in France, Belgium, and Canada during the early stages of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. The decentralized structures in Canada and Belgium are compared with France’s centralized response.
  • Australia, Canada, Germany & United States / Australie, Canada, Allemagne & États-Unis: Mark J. Rozell, Clyde Wilcox, “Federalism in a Time of Plague: How Federal Systems Cope With Pandemic”, The American Review of Public Administration, Vol. 50, No. 5-6, July 2020: This article compares and contrasts the responses of Australia, Canada, Germany, and the United States to the COVID-19 outbreak and spread.
  • Canada & United States / Canada & États-Unis: Abdul Basit Adeel, Michael Catalano, Olivia Catalano, Grant Gibson, Ezgi Muftuoglu, Tara Riggs, Mehmet Halit Sezgin, Olga Shvetsova, Naveed Tahir, Julie VanDusky-Allen, Tianyi Zhao, Andrei Zhirnov, “COVID-19 Policy Response and the Rise of the Sub-National Governments”, Canadian Public Policy, Vol. 42, No. 4, 2020: Authors examine the roles of subnational and national governments in Canada and the USA vis-à-vis protective public health response in the onset phase of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The study shows that the institutional origin of the policies as evidenced by COVID-19 response differs greatly between the two countries and has implications for the evolution of federalism in each.
  • Germany, Austria, and Switzerland / Allemagne, Autriche & Suisse: Zachary Desson, Lisa Lambertz, Jan Willem Peters, Michelle Falkenbach, Lukas Kauer, “Europe’s Covid-19 outliers: German, Austrian and Swiss policy responses during the early stages of the 2020 pandemic”, Health Policy and Technology, Vol. 9, No. 4, 2020: This paper presents an overview of the policy responses in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (all federal states) during the early stages of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.
  • Various systems: Klaus Dodds, Vanesa Castan Broto, Klaus Detterbeck, Martin Jones, Virginie Mamadouh, Maano Ramutsindela, Monica Varsanyi, David Wachsmuth & Chih Yuan Woon, “The COVID-19 pandemic: territorial, political and governance dimensions of the crisis”, Territory, Politics, Governance, Vol. 8, No. 3, June 2020: This editorial briefly explains how territorial politics played a key role in the pandemic.
  • EU & ASEAN: Maria Papageorgiou, Daniella Silva Nogueira Melo, “Regional responses to COVID-19: A comparative analysis of EU and ASEAN policies to counter the pandemic”, Perspectives on Federalism, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2020: This article aims to examine the initial responses to COVID-19 and the development of regional policies of the two most successful examples of regional organisations; EU and ASEAN and it accounts for the different forms of integration and the varying COVID-19 spread levels between them.

Books & Book Chapters / Livres & chapitres d’ouvrages collectifs

  • Rupak Chattopadhyay, Felix Knüpling, Diana Chebenova, Liam Whittington, Phillip Gonzalez (eds), Federalism and the Response to COVID-19: A Comparative Analysis, Routledge, 2021: This book provides a comparative analysis of policy approaches and planning adopted by federal governments across the globe to battle and adequately respond to the health emergency as well as the socio-economic fallouts of the pandemic.
  • Multiple Countries: Nico Steytler (ed), Comparative Federalism and Covid-19: Combating the Pandemic (London: Routledge, 2021): With case studies from 19 federal countries, this book explores the core elements of federalism that came to the fore in combatting the pandemic: the division of responsibilities (disaster management, health care, social welfare, and education), the need for centralisation, and intergovernmental relations and cooperation. The authors adopt a multidisciplinary approach to question whether federalism has been a help or a hindrance in tackling the pandemic.
  • Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States / Argentine, Brésil, Canada, Mexique, et États-Unis: B. Guy Peters, Eduardo Grin & Fernando Luiz Abrucio, eds, “American Federal Systems and COVID-19” (Emerald Publishing Limited, 2021): American Federal Systems and COVID-19 analyzes five American federations – Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States – and how they have responded to a complex intergovernmental problem (CIP) such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Countries of European Union / Pays de l’Union Européenne: Linda Hantrais, Marie-Thérèse Letablier, “Comparing and Contrasting the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the European Union” (New York: Routledge, 2021): This book offers a template for analyzing policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and for using evidence-based comparisons to inform and support policy development.
  • Brazil, United States, India, Belgium, Germany and Australia / Brésil, États-Unis, Inde, Belgique, Allemagne et Australie: José Ma. Serna de la Garza (coordinatior), Covid-19 and Constitutional Law (Mexico: Instituto De Investigaciones Jurídicas, October 2020): This book is a collection of articles on how different constitutional orders responded to the pandemic and it includes many articles on federal systems such as Brazil, United States, India, Belgium, Germany and Australia.
  • United States, Brazil, Germany, European Union, Italy, Spain / États-Unis, Brésll, Allemagne, Union européenne, Italie, Espagne: Gian Luca Gardini (ed.), The World Before and After COVID-19: Intellectual Reflections on Politics, Diplomacy and International Relations, European of International Studies Press, 2020: The e-book includes articles on national and regional perspectives about COVID-19 crisis and deals with several federal/ quasi-federal systems.

Research Papers & Reports / Documents de recherche & Rapports

  • OECD Countries: OECD, “Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations and the COVID-19 Crisis: Early Lessons”, Fiscal Federalism 2022: Making Decentralization Work, February 2022: This chapter of the OECD report analyses the responses countries have taken through the channel of intergovernmental relations to tackle the pandemic at different stages of the crisis, highlighting lessons learnt. Not only have intergovernmental relations shaped the response to the crisis, but the crisis is shaping the future of intergovernmental relations. 
  • Multiple countries: “Multi-level Governance and COVID-19 Emergency Coordination” Metropolis, Analytics Note 4, December 2021: This note focuses on multilevel governance and emergency coordination during the COVID-19 pandemic. It draws on case study analysis of 15 national-level responses, assesses the position of subnational governments within the pandemic response structure.
  • Multiple Countries: Cheryl Saunders, “How Federations Responded to COVID-19”, Constitutional Insights, No. 7, September 2021: This article explores what can be learned from the COVID-19 experience about the purposes, design and operation of federations, including for the division and allocation of powers and fiscal resources; collaboration and cooperation between levels of government; and the challenges of democratic accountability.
  • United States & Germany /États-Unis & Allemagne: Brandon Bohrn, “Federalism in Crisis: U.S and German Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic”, Bertelsmann Foundation, February 2021: This report is devoted to exploring the most pressing challenges facing the United States and Germany and presenting analysis to policymakers, professors, teachers, and students on both sides of the Atlantic. It provides readers with a better understanding of how the U.S. and Germany, through their different forms of federalism, have navigated this once-in-a-century public health crisis.
  • Multiple Countries: Sheila Jasanof, Stephen Hilgartner, J. Benjamin Hurlbut, Onur Özgöde, Margarita Rayzberg et al., Comparative Covid Response: Crisis, Knowledge, Politics (Interim Report), 12 January 2021: This report provides a preliminary distillation of Comparative Covid Response: Crisis, Knowledge, Politics (CompCoRe) – a cross-national study of the policy responses of 16 countries across five continents. Led by a team based at Harvard, Cornell and Arizona State Universities, CompCoRe is a collaborative undertaking involving more than 60 researchers from around the world. The participating countries are Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Additionally, teams from Indonesia and Peru, as well as an Africa Group, are included as CompCoRe affiliates. Since the list contains federal countries, it also analyzes the effects of federal system where it is relevant.
  • Germany & European Union /Allemagne & Union Européenne: Lucie Coatleven, François Hublet, Théophile Rospars, Covid-19 et gestion de crise subsidiaire : Perspectives transfrontalières à la lumière du fédéralisme allemande, Groupe d’études géopolitiques, Décembre 2020 : Ce rapport propose de s’inspirer de la réponse institutionnelle allemande, suisse ou belge pour imaginer une « gestion de crise subsidiaire » au service des citoyens et des territoires européens.
  • Latin America & Caribbean / Amérique Latine, & Les Caraïbes: OAS & Forum of Federations & University of Kent, Practical Guide for an Effective Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic at the Subnational Level, 2020: The Organization of American States, the Forum of Federations and the University of Kent organized a webinar on the occasion of the International Day of Peace (September 21) addressing the growing pivotal role of subnational governments in the current Latin American and Caribbean COVID-19 scenario. The information was reviewed and summarized to produce this practical guide as an important contribution to the hemispheric efforts underway to strengthen local democratic governance, and more specifically to respond effectively to the COVID-19 pandemic at the subnational levels.
  • OECD Countries / Pays d’OCDE: OECD, “Building resilience to the Covid-19 pandemic: the role of centres of government”, OECD Policy Responses to Coronavirus (COVID-19), 2 September 2020: This paper discusses the high-level institutional arrangements put in place by governments with a special focus on center of governments role in three main dimensions: co-ordination and strategic planning, the use of evidence to inform decision-making, and communicating decisions to the public. Even though the paper is not solely focused on federal systems, it also provides insights to how central governments coordinate subnational responses.
  • United States and European Union / États-Unis et Union Européenne: Carlo Maria Palermo, “COVID-19: US and EU, Why the Outbreak Could Induce an Institutional Evolution”, CESPI, 22 March 2020: This policy brief tries to explain the situation for both Europe and the United States in the early days of the pandemic and discusses how to create more efficient, accountable institutions for the citizens.

Blog Posts & Academic Essays / Billets de blogue & essais académiques

  • Canada & Germany / Canada & Allemagne: Marie Bettega, « Les dilemmes du fédéralisme face à la pandémie de COVID-19 », Forum of Federations Blog, 25 février 2022 : Depuis Janvier 2020, la pandémie de COVID-19 marque une crise sanitaire internationale sans précédent. La propagation accélérée du virus dans un monde globalisé a nécessité des réponses inédites de la part des gouvernements. L’efficacité des actions engagées dépend du système politique des différents États. Cet article se concentre sur les États fédéraux, et plus particulièrement le Canada et l’Allemagne.
  • Multiple countries: Sean Dougherty, Pietrangelo de Biase, “State and local government finances in the time of COVID-19”, VOX EU CEPR, 26 October 2021: This column presents evidence suggesting that the Covid crisis has impacted the fiscal positions of subnational governments in the OECD far less than the previous crisis, which should mitigate the tendency of subnational government towards pro-cyclical fiscal policy by reducing investment, drawing out the recovery.
  • Multiple countries: Eugenio Velasco-Ibarra, “COVID-19: Federalism and the Constitution”, IACL-AIDC Blog, 16 September 2021: In this contribution, the author addresses the broad constitutional theme of federalism and restrict their discussion to that which is more uniquely apposite to the character of a state’s inter-governmental relations.
  • Arvind Ashta, “It is time to seriously consider the advantages of a world federal government”, LSE EUROPP Blog, 18 March 2021: Ashta lists seven reasons why we should now consider moving toward a world federal government.
  • Multiple Countries: Sean Molloy, Christine Bell, Asanga Welikala, Erin Houlihan, Kimana Zulueta-Fülscher, “Emergency Law Responses and Conflict-Affected States in Transition”, Verfassungsblog, 13 March 2021: This post looks at emergency law responses to the Covid-19 pandemic in conflict-affected states in transition and it underlines the impact on relationships between the central state and divided groups in sub-state regions as a main area of concern.
  • Nyasha Weinberg, Joelle Grogan, “Effective Pandemic Management Requires the Rule of Law and Good Governance”, Verfassungsblog, 4 November 2020: In this post, authors argue that the most effective action in response to global health emergency is guided by principles of the rule of law and good governance. They also focus on the benefits of collaboration for multi-level governance.
  • France, Italy, United States / France, Italie, États-Unis: Isabel Perera, Sidney Tarrow, “What America Got Wrong About COVID-19–and What We Can Learn from France and Italy”, Public Seminar, 26 August 2020: This essay argues that institutional fragmentation and a lack of national solidarity have derailed the pandemic response in the US by comparing it to France and Italy.
  • Australia, India, and the United States / Australie, Inde, et États-Unis: Niranjan Sahoo, “India and Australia’s federal systems have responded fairly well to COVID-19. But the US system hasn’t”, Melbourne Asia Review Blog, 14 July 2020: The article explains how the pandemic is exposing the strengths and weaknesses of different forms of federal systems by giving examples from these three federations.
  • Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico / Argentine, Brésil, Mexique: Julie VanDusky-Allen, Olga Shvestova, and Andrei Zhirnov, “COVID-19 Policy Response in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico: Three Different National-Subnational Approaches”, Duck of Minerva, 2 July 2020: The authors compare the responses of these three countries by taking into account both the national and subnational levels.
  • Australia & USA / Australie & États-Unis: Julian R. Murphy, “Divided We Fall? – Division and Coordination in Federal Systems During A Time Of Crisis”, BACL Blog, 25 May 2020: Murphy compares the responses of the federal systems of Australia and the United States and suggests that it is as much the attitude of the actors within the federal system, as it is the system itself, which determines the success of a national response in a time of crisis.
  • Francesco Palermo, “Is there a space for federalism in times of emergency?”, Verfassungblog, 13 May 2020: Palermo compares responses to the crisis in many different federal systems as well as reactions to those responses, and argues for the importance of federalism during this turbulent period to protect another principle related to federalism: pluralism.
  • Luiz de Mello, João Tovar Jalles, “Intergovernmental relations: How the global crisis led to further decentralisation”, VOX CEPR Policy Portal, 8 April 2020: Authors describe how, in particular, the crisis was associated with an increase in the subnational shares of general government spending and revenue, which are conventional quantitative gauges of fiscal decentralisation.

Working Papers / Documents de travail

  • OECD Countries / Pays d’OCDE: David Cameron, “The Relative Performance of Federal and Non-federal Countries During the Pandemic”, Forum of Federations Occasional Paper Series, No. 50, April 2021: In this chapter, the author scrutinizes how the pandemic was managed while focusing on differences between federal and non-federal countries.
  • Indonesia & Malaysia / Indonésie & Malaisie: Raine Sroge Johnson, “A comparison of Indonesia and Malaysia's COVID-19 public health policy response”, Birmingham Working Paper Series, 18 January 2021: This paper identifies and analyzes Indonesia and Malaysia’s public health policies from March to May of 2020. It argues that Indonesia’s political elites’ denial of the pandemic threat and incumbents’ economic and religious anxieties as well as the nation’s federal institutional design dictated its lackluster policy response. Comparatively, after the resolution of Malaysia’s political turmoil, the new incumbent was enabled by the country’s federal institutional design to create effective policies that prioritized health and safety over the short-term political concerns.
  • OECD Countries / Pays d’OCDE: Pietrangelo de Biase and Sean Dougherty, “Federalism and public health decentralisation in the time of COVID-19”, OECD Working Papers on Fiscal Federalism, January 2021: The paper focuses on how countries made changes to the configuration of federalism during the first wave of the pandemic. The strengths, weaknesses and implementation risks of various approaches are analysed using country examples.
  • Olga Shvetsova, Andrei Zhirnov, Julie VanDusky-Allen, Abdul Basit Adeel et al., “Institutional Origins of Protective COVID-19 Public Health Policy Responses: Informational and Authority Redundancies and Policy Stringency”, October 2020: This essay argues that institutional systems that allow redundancies in information channels and in policy-making (i.e. democracies and decentralized policies) are more likely to generate a rapid policy response to crises such as the onset of COVID-19 pandemic than more streamlined systems.
  • Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy / Allemagne, Suisse, France et Italie: Tim Buthe, Joan Barceló, Cindy Cheng, Paula Ganga, Luca Messerschmidt, Allison Spencer Hartnett, and Robert Kubinec, “Patterns of Policy Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Federal vs. Unitary European Democracies”, SSRN, 14 September 2020: Authors argue that the extent to which federalist countries reap the benefits or suffer the costs of giving sub-national units greater autonomy depends on whether a given policy is itself more optimally implemented homogenously or heterogeneously across different regions. They analyze national and sub-national policy responses to COVID-19 in 2 federal (Germany and Switzerland) and 2 unitary countries (France and Italy).
  • Multiple states: Olga Shvetsova, Andrey Zhirnov, Abdul Basit Adeel, Michael Catalano, Olivia Catalano, Hyoungrohk Chu, Garrett K. Dumond, Georgian-Marius Ghincea, Jason Means, Ezgi Muftuoglu, Tara Riggs, Almira Sadykova, Mehmet Halit Sezgin, Julie Vandusky Allen, and Tianyi Zhao, “Constitutional and Institutional Structural Determinants of Policy Responsiveness to Protect Citizens from Existential Threats: COVID-19 and Beyond”, Citizenship, Rights, and Cultural Belonging Working Paper Series, 12 May 2020: The article analyzes the contrast in the speed of policy response between more centralized and autocratic states versus democratic federations.
  • USA & United Kingdom / États-Unis & Royaume Uni: Olga Shvetsova, Michael Catalano, Hyoungrohk Chu, Garrett K. Dumond, Ezgi Muftuoglu, Hasan Ozutemiz, Almira Sadykova, and Tara Riggs, “Policy Error and Policy Rescue in COVID-19 Responses in the United States and United Kingdom”, Citizenship, Rights, and Cultural Belonging Working Paper Series, 15 April 2020: This piece explains how democratic institutions, in particular federalism, can impact the speed and degree of policy responses protecting citizens, even when national leaders share similar public rhetoric that is non-conducive to speedy policy response through a comparison of the policies of United States and United Kingdom.

Opinions

News Articles / Article de presse

Back to top