Fédéralisme et pandémie de COVID-19 - Un compendium de (res)sources | Chaire Peter MacKell sur le fédéralisme

The MacKell Chair team is collecting sources on the intersection between federalism-writ-large and COVID-19.

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

In this edition of the IACL-AIDC Vlog Series, Pablo Riberi talks about Argentina (June 23, 2020).

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

In August, the Institute of Law at Nirma University organized a webinar featuring Abhishek Singhvi as speaker. The webinar is entitled Federalism: Origin, Evolution and Post Covid Times (August 25, 2020).
In this video from the first episode of Political Pulse, Dinesh Trivedi, Neerja Chowdhury, Bhavna Vij-Aurora, Puneet Nicholas Yadav and moderator Mirza Arif Beg discuss if Indian federalism took a blow during the pandemic. (May 2, 2020).
Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation (GIFT) shared the recording of their webinar on COVID-19 Pandemic and Fiscal Federalism in India (April 28, 2020).

Mexico / Mexique

In this edition to IACL-AIDC Vlog Series, Eugenio Velasco Ibarra explains how Mexico handled the crisis (June 23, 2020).

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 1^st 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

Julien Doris, “Do Past Compromises Ensure Future Ones? Fiscal Federalism in Canada Under Challenge”, Forum of Federations Blog, 17December 2021: Julien Doris considers the fiscal federalism challenges that Canada will face as the coronavirus pandemic continues. ·
Éric Desrochers, “Enduring and Contemporary Challenges to Fiscal Federalism in Canada”, Forum of Federations, November 2021: Desrochers offers an overview of the panels at the April 2021 Fiscal Federalism in Canada Conference, organized the University of Ottawa Centre on Governance in partnership with the Forum of Federations. ·
Trevor Tombe, “The effect of COVID on provincial finances”, Finances of the Nation, 26 November 2021: The article analyzes the latest data from Statistics Canada that reveals the scale of the shock caused by the pandemic — with important implications for not only provinces, but also the federal government.
Debra Parkes, Carissima Mathen, “Canadian universities must act now to protect their communities”, Centre for Constitutional Studies Blog, 17 September 2021: Authors challenges the view the assumption that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects the rights of unvaccinated individuals to participate without restriction in the public realm.
André Juneau, “Reflections on COVID and Federalism in Canada”, Forum of Federations, April 2021: In this scoping paper, Juneau draws on his experience as a public servant to explain the lessons learned over a year into the pandemic.
Joel Reardon, Emily Laidlaw, and Greg Hagen, “COVID-19 and Cellphone Surveillance”, Centre for Constitutional Studies Blog, 3 February 2021: Authors examine the technical aspects of smartphone surveillance, and the regulatory principles that should govern its use in a preliminary way to provide a legal framework to begin to think about these issues.
Paul Daly, “COVID-19 in Canada: Variable Forms of Power and Unvarying Judicial Deference”, Verfassungsblog, 8 March 2021: In this blog post, Daly, through the lens of pandemic-related public law litigation, explains how Canada has responded to COVID-19 and concentrates on the forms of power the federal and provincial governments have employed in response to the pandemic amongst other issues.
Livio Di Matteo, “Despite spending hundreds of billions during COVID, we seem to have little to show for it”, Fraser Forum, 8 January 2021: Di Matteo asks if federalism is responsible for the failures of Canada’s pandemic response despite the amount of money it spent.
Edward Conway, “Ultra Vires: What's wrong with the travel ban decision of Burrage J. in Taylor v. Newfoundland?”, CanLII Connects, 24 September 2020: Conway provides a critique of errors that he suggests are made by Burrage J. in his pith and substance determination in the travel ban decision.
Marie-Claude Prémont, Marie-Eve Couture-Ménard, « Le concept juridique de l’urgence sanitaire: une protection contre les virus biologiques et… politiques », Centre For Constitutional Studies Blog, 22 October 2020 : Les auteures se penchent sur le concept d’urgence sanitaire et démontrent les limites du concept, de même que ses défis.
Josh Dehaas, “Opinion: Canada’s border restrictions no longer constitutionally justified.”, CCF Blog, 22 July 2020: Dehaas argues that Trudeau government’s near-total closure of the U.S. land border and 14-day self-quarantine requirements no longer meet the limits imposed by the Quarantine Act.
Jocelyn Stacey, “Emergencies and the Rule of Learning”, Centre for Constitutional Studies Blog, 20 July 2020: Stacey highlights how the rule of law can and ought to contribute to learning during emergencies.
Herman Bakvis, Grace Skogstad, “Canadian Federalism: Performing amidst the Pandemic”, UTP Blog, 6 July 2020: Authors take stock of how well the Canadian federation has fared so far in handling the pandemic.
Kristopher Kissinger, Brian Bird, “The Freedoms We Cannot Afford to Ignore During COVID-19”, Centre for Constitutional Studies Blog, 29 June 2020: Authors discuss the importance of section 2(c) (guaranteeing the freedom of assembly) during the pandemic.
Shaun Fluker, “COVID-19 and the Exercise of Legislative Power by the Executive”, Centre for Constitutional Studies Blog, 22 June 2020: Fluker examines how Alberta ministers and the Chief Medical Officer of Health have been exercising emergency powers so far during the pandemic, and makes some observations on the hallmarks of legitimate governance and the role of the Regulations Act, RSA 2000, c R-14, in this regard.
Maxime St-Hilaire, “Deconstructing Quebec’s “Shocking” Bill 61”, Advocates for the Rule of Law, 16 June 2020: Author explains how the proposed Bill 61 overrides Public Health Act’s more general and older provisions and derogates from its already limited strictures imposed upon government
Félix Mathieu, Dave Guénette, “Quebec, Canada and the Covid-19 Crisis: Making Federalism Work Again?” UACES Territorial Politics Blog, 16 June 2020: Dave Guénette and Félix Mathieu explain how the pandemic has shown in Canada that non-centralization may be an effective way to cope with the crisis.
Michael Da Silva, Maxime St-Hilaire, “Pandemic Preparedness and Responsiveness in Canada: Exploring the Case for an Intergovernmental Agreement”, Centre for Constitutional Studies Blog, 15 June 2020: Authors argue that formal intergovernmental agreement could be a promising tool for ensuring cooperation and addressing the problems posed by genuine public health emergencies like COVID-19.
Sarah Burningham, ““The New Normal”: COVID-19 and the Temporary Nature of Emergencies”, Centre for Constitutional Studies Blog, 4 June 2020: Burningham suggests that exceptional measures should be taken through usual constitutional and legal frameworks by drawing examples from the scholarship on security and anti-terrorism.
Patricia Hughes, “The Constitutionality of Interprovincial Boundary Closures (Part III)”, Slaw, 2 June 2020: In this final entry of the three-part blog post, Hughes looks at the enforcement provisions relating both to the closure of borders to out of province visitors and provisions that are imposed on people travelling across provincial/territorial borders.
Serges Jaumin, «Le Québec dans la tourmente de la COVID-19», COVIDAM : la Covid-19 dans les Amériques, 14 Mai 2020 : L’auteur présente les épreuves que le Québec endure pendant cette crise et s’interroge sur les effets de la crise entre le Québec et le gouvernement fédéral. (For English version, click here.)
Teresa Scassa, “One app per province? How Canada’s federalism complicates digital contact tracing”, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, 13 May 2020: Scassa explains why Canada’s federal structure could lead to a multiplicity of apps across the country, complicating digital contact tracing.
Maxime St. Hilaire, “Are Quebec and Canada having a “Schmittian” (or Iheringian) moment?”, ICONNECT Blog, 6 May 2020: Maxime St. Hilaire questions Quebec government’s choice of not invoking Section 33 of the Constitution Act (1982) and discusses possible theoretical frameworks for state of emergencies.
François Laroque, Linda Cardinal, « Le français, autre victime de la Covid-19 au Canada », The Conversation, 5 Mai 2020 : Les auteur.e.s parlent des dangers que la crise cause pour la langue française en raison du manque d’un cadre au niveau fédéral.
Monica Heller, “Communications, Language and COVID-19 Crisis Management” Voices of the RSC, 1 June 2020: Geller focuses on the problems about access to information due to language during the pandemic.
Patricia Hughes, “The Constitutionality of Interprovincial/Territorial Boundary Closures (Part II)”, Slaw, 26 May 2020: Hughes considers the constitutionality of the interprovincial and territorial border closures with respect to Section 1, 6 and 7 of the Charter
Patricia Hughes, “The Constitutionality of Interprovincial/Territorial Boundary Closures (Part I)”, Slaw, 19 May 2020: Hughes discusses the legal background to the interprovincial/territorial boundary closures.
Bob Rae, “Federalism and the COVID-19 crisis: The view from Canada”, Forum of Federations Blog, April 2020: Former Ontario premier looks at Canada’s response.
David Dyzenhaus, “Canada the Good?”, University of Alberta Center for Constitutional Studies Blog, 27 April 2020: Dyzenhaus writes about emergency powers of federal government and the lack of checks on these powers.
Marc Lee, Arman Hamidian, “Comparing provincial economic responses to COVID-19”, Policy Note, 23 April 2020: Lee and Hamidian compares economic responses of Canadian provinces and points out to the need for a comprehensive federal response.
Sujit Choudhry, “COVID-19 & the Canadian Constitution”, Medium, 16 April 2020.
Gérard Boismenu, « Covid-19, agent révélateur des fractures canadiennes », COVIDAM : la Covid-19 dans les Amériques, 9 Avril 2020 : Boismenu compare les réponses des provinces et la réponse fédérale pour la crise.
Amy Swiffen, “The limits of Canada’s federal emergency law during the coronavirus pandemic”, The Conversation, 1 April 2020: Swiffen concentrates on limitations of Canadian federalism and asks if Federal Emergencies Act gives enough power to federal government to deal with COVID-19 considering that federal government can intervene only if the spread exceeds capacities of the provinces according to the Act.

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

Jörg Broschek, “Why the politics of blame avoidance shouldn’t be working in Canadian federalism”, The Standard, 11 January 2022: The author criticizes premiers Ford and Kenney, in particular, for playing the politics of blame avoidance to distract from their crisis mismanagement.
Charles Breton, Andrew Parkin, “Canadians are still committed to decentralized federalism”, Policy Options, 28 September 2021: Authors discuss the latest Confederation of Tomorrow survey finds Canadians like strong provincial governments.
Susan Cui, “Canada’s troubles with federalism are hindering progress on vaccine passport”, Toronto Star, 20 July 2021: Cui explains how Canada’s problems within federal system affects the progress on vaccine passport.
Chris Hall, “The House: Can Canadian federalism cope with 21st century threats?”, CBC, 3 July 2021: The pandemic and climate change are crises the Constitution's drafters never saw coming and Chris Hall interviews different experts on how federalism might adapt to his new reality.
Stephen Van Dine, “Coping with COVID requires a return to co-operative federalism”, Policy Options, 7 May 2021: The author argues that Canada’s first ministers should adopt a co-operative approach to overseeing both a pandemic response and an economic recovery plan.
Trevor W. Harrison, “Opinion: Federal government has had Albertans' back during COVID”, Edmonton Journal, 28 January 2021: Picking up data from the new report of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, this op-ed argues that at least in dealing with the pandemic, the federal government has had Alberta’s back; that federalism, for all its real and imagined sins, has worked well.
Jean-Thomas Bernard, « Fédéralisme et santé : fragilité unanime des provinces », Le Devoir, 25 janvier 2021 : L’article explique les complications qui peuvent suivre la demande unanime des provinces pour des transferts accrus en santé.
Jörg Broschek, “How Trudeau government can take control of the pandemic”, Policy Options, 22 January 2021: Broschek argues that the key to a better federal control of the pandemic is accountability and conditions on transfer payments, and more intergovernmental co-operation.
Eric Montigny, « Entre collaboration et confrontation », La Presse, 20 janvier 2021 : L’article explique comment le fédéralisme exécutif canadien est rudement mis à l’épreuve par la pandémie.
Michael Wolfson, « Le Canada a besoin d’une base de données nationale sur la vaccination contre la COVID-19 », Options Politiques, 11 janvier 2021 : Wolfson soutient que le Canada doit adopter une approche nationale de surveillance de la vaccination pour recueillir des informations essentielles sur chaque personne qui reçoit le vaccin.
John Ibbitson, “Federalism allows ‘bumblebee’ Canada to stay aloft relatively well through a challenging year”, The Globe and The Mail, 29 December 2020: Ibbitson provides a summary of how Canada fared in this crisis during 2020 and what this performance says about Canadian federalism.
Brian Pfefferle, “Police can — and should — enforce COVID-19 health orders in Saskatchewan”, CBC News, 6 December 2020: The op-ed calls for stricter enforcement of pandemic measures.
Amir Attaran, “Trudeau needs a COVID-19 Emergency Order. Here's how to do it.”, Maclean’s, 27 November 2020: Attaran argues that Trudeau should make use of Emergencies Act.
Mike Medeiros, Daniel Béland, André Lecours, “Overriding the provinces on COVID would cause long-term harm to Canada”, The Globe and Mail, 26 November 2020: Authors argue that “calls to have the federal government impose uniform national measures at this point, which implicitly depict the federal government as being above the provinces, pervert Canadians’ perceptions of their country and they ultimately weaken our federal culture.”
Ian Waddell, “A Suggestion to Help Canadians Get Clear on COVID-19”, The Tyee, 18 November 2020: Waddell makes a case for co-operative federalism to tackle the crisis.
John Michael McGrath, “This is a global crisis. Why is Doug Ford talking about who has jurisdiction?”, TVO, 13 November 2020: McGrath’s opinion piece focuses on Ontario Premier Ford’s comments regarding his willingness to defend provincial jurisdiction against Trudeau.
Konrad Yakabuski, “Jouer avec le feu”, Le Devoir, 17 octobre 2020: Yakabuski essaie de démontrer que les problèmes survenus pendant la pandémie a force Trudeau de faire une déclaration sur une possible régulation pour les résidences pour aînés.
François Cardinal, “Une fausse solution… à un faux problème”, La Presse, 17 octobre 2020: L’auteur critique la proposition de Trudeau concernant de créer une régulation fédérale pour les résidences pour aînés.
Ken Coates, “The Pandemic and the Untimely Re-Emergence of Canadian Federalism”, The Epoch Times, 27 September 2020: Author explains how the throne speech and the federal and provincial responses to the speeches highlight the re-emergence of Canadian federalism.
John Michael McGrath, “Forget the carbon tax: COVID-19 testing is the latest failure of federalism”, TVO, 25 September 2020: The author explains how rapid COVID-19 testing has increased the tensions between Ontarian and the federal government.
Michael Wolfson, « Fédéralisme fiscal et COVID-19 : accorder la priorité aux données » Options Politiques, 11 septembre 2020 : L’auteur soutient qu’au lieu d’offrir un financement sans condition aux provinces, le gouvernent fédéral devrait accorder la priorité aux données sur les cas de COVID-19 et les lier au financement en santé.
Patricia Treble, “Coronavirus in Canada: These charts show how our fight to 'flatten the curve' is going”, MacLean’s, 31 August 2020: This article includes charts that show the overall and province numbers related to the pandemic.
Carolyn Hughes Tuohy, “A New Federal Framework for Long-Term Care in Canada”, Policy Options, 20 August 2020: The author advocates for a federal-provincial collaboration to fix the long-term care system in Canada.
Michael Bryant, “Has COVID-19 quietly killed Canadian Confederation?”,The Globe and The Mail, 13 August 2020: Bryant takes aim at Newfoundland’s travel ban and claims that it erodes the foundations of Canadian Confederation.
Gregory P. Marchildon, Peter Bleyer, “Federalism done right in post-COVID-19 Canada”, Policy Options, 4 August 2020: Authors argue that the COVID-19 crisis is a chance to rethink Canadian federalism to better respond to the healthcare and climate change challenges.
John Delacourt, “Crisis is the Mother of Collaboration: Federalism and COVID-19”, Policy Magazine, June 17, 2020: Delacourt argues that the lessons from a more co-operative federalism will resonate beyond the COVID-19 crisis.
Kyle Hanniman, “Post-pandemic, Canada will have to confront soaring provincial debt”, Ottawa Citizen, 6 July 2020: Hanniman discusses how Canadian federalism might tackle the provincial debts in the post-covid world.
Joanna Baron, “Unconstitutional travel bans are causing real harm”, National Post, 9 June 2020: Baron warns against the dangers of limiting right to free movements unconstitutionally.
Chistopher Nardi, “'We don’t want conditions': Premiers oppose strings attached to $14B federal COVID-19 aid package”, National Post, 5 June 2020: Journalist Christopher Nardi reports Premiers’ reaction to Trudeau’s conditions for aid package to provinces.
Patricia Treble, “Coronavirus in Canada: Reopening plans province-by-province”, MacLean’s, 4 June 2020: Treble compiles a list of the reopening plans of federal and provincial governments. (The list is updated as new stages of plans are unveiled.)
Andrew Potter, “Is Pandemic Federalism the New Normal?”, Max Bell School of Public Policy, 30 May 2020: Andrew Potter discusses the impact of pandemic on federalism, on fiscal policy, division of powers, internal borders, and the proper scrutinizing role of Parliament in Canada.
Amir Attaran, “How Canada has bungled the COVID-19 endgame”, MacLean’s, 31 May 2020: Attaran argues that Canada has failed in its management of COVID-19 crisis and criticizes federal government for deferring the management of this public health crisis to provinces.
Rafael Miró, Marco-Antonio Hauwert Rueda, «Vers un nouveau fédéralisme post-covid?» Le Délit, 31 mai 2020 : Le Délit s’entretient avec le prof. Daniel Béland sur l'impact de la COVID-19 sur le fédéralisme canadien.
Chantal Bernier, “Finding our way through privacy, data gaps and pandemic response”, Canadian Lawyer, 19 May 2020: Bernier argues that there already is a framework to provide privacy protection while also collecting data and that Canadian governments should rely on that.
Alain Noel, “COVID-19 et tensions intergouvernementales”, Options Politiques, 4 Mai 2020: L’auteur présente les défis que la crise pose pour le fédéralisme canadien et attire l’attention du lecteur au problème du déséquilibre fiscal.
Alain-G. Gagnon, « Penser l’après-COVID-19: pandémie, fédéralisme et concertation », La Presse, 28 avril 2020 : L’auteur offre des pistes de réflexion sur l’importance de l’autonomie provinciale mais aussi de la coordination et la concertation au sein du fédéralisme canadien pour mieux répondre à la crise.
Alex Usher, “Post-Covid Fiscal Rebalancing”, Higher Education Strategy Associates, April 28, 2020: Usher is asking if Canadian federal government providing direct help to individuals is going to become a long-term fixture of Canadian federalism and how Quebec is not currently challenging this policy.
Catherine Xhardez, Mireille Paquet, « Immigration : se rappeler des fondations de notre régime distinct », La Presse, 23 Avril 2020 : Les chercheuses prévient contre le danger de mettre en question les pouvoirs que le Québec détient en matière d’immigration pendant la pandémie.
Maxime St. Hilaire, « Les circonstances modernes de l'état d'urgence », ABC National, 21 Avril 2020 : L’auteur explique les théories générales sur l’état d’urgence et fait un état de lieu de l’utilisation des pouvoirs exceptionnelles au niveau des gouvernements fédéral et québécois.
Charles Breton, Mohy-Dean Tabbara, “How the Provinces Compare in their Covid-19 Responses”, Policy Options, 22 April 2020 : The authors compare provincical responses by presenting data on measures taken and their timing.
Stéphanie Chouinard, “COVID-19 crisis sheds light on blind spot of Canadian federalism: interprovincial collaboration”, iPolitics, 9 April 2020: Chouinard focuses on horizontal collaboration during this crisis and calls for better collaboration.
Robert Schetzer, Mirelle Paquet, “How well is Canada’s intergovernmental system is handling the crisis?”, Policy Options, 8 April 2020: Authors assess how well provincial governments and the federal government are handling the crisis and how the lessons from previous crises helped.

News Articles / Article de presse

Rachel Emmanuel, “Feds, provinces agree on standardized vaccine pass”, iPolitics, 21 October 2021: Emmanuel reports on some details of the agreement between governments for the vaccine passport.
Justin Ling, “Canada-wide vaccine passport: TBD”, Politico, 10 July 2021: The journalist reports on the efforts to create a Canada-wide vaccine passport and underlines the difficulty of coordination.
“Trudeau says Ford trying to 'deflect' criticism of Ontario's COVID-19 response by slamming Ottawa”, CBC, 5 June 2021: Trudeau criticizes Ford claiming that he’s deflecting the blame to find an easy way out.
Charlie Pinkerton, “Ottawa turns to divided provinces for border decision”, iPolitics, 3 June 2021: The article explains how provinces are divided over the border decision.
Charlie Pinkerton, “Ottawa to consult provinces before relaxing borders”, iPolitics, 28 May 2021: Pinkerton reports that there will be dialogue between federal and provincial governments to figure out the details of the end of border restrictions.
“Ford takes aim at border as Ontario reports 3,887 new COVID-19 cases”, CBC, 30 April 2021: Premier Ford blames the federal government’s border policy for the rise in cases.
Steven Fletcher, “COVID vaccinations are caught up in government bungling”, iPolitics, 9 April 2021: Fletcher provides his perspective on the blame shifting game about the vaccinations between governments in Canada.
Nebal Snan, “No federal funding for long-term care homes that don't follow national standards, Canadian advocates demand”, The Guardian, 24 March 2021: The article provides a report of the news conference of Canadian Health Coalition on long-term care standards.
Charlie Pinkerton, “Provinces on the sidelines of Ottawa’s vaccine-passport planning”, iPolitics, 22 March 2021: Pinkerton explains the lack of provincial participation in vaccine passport planning.
Althia Raj, “Ottawa Ready To Agree To Unconditional Health Care Transfers With Provinces”, HuffPost Canada, 4 March 2021: Raj reports In Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc’s remarks on post-pandemic health care transfers.
Kevin Dougherty, “Legault explored Quebec law to enforce in-hotel quarantine”, iPolitics, 28 January 2021: The article explains Quebec’s now-dropped plan to enforce in-hotel quarantine in case federal government refused to do so.
Kevin Dougherty, “Legault says Trudeau must ban non-essential air travel to fight COVID”, iPolitics, 18 January 2021: The article reports Quebec Premier’s message to federal government.
Charlie Pinkerton, “Near-lockdowns aren’t enough to slow COVID’s spread, warns Dr. Tam”, iPolitics, 15 January 2021: The article includes federal authorities’ projections of cases in different provinces for the following months of the pandemic/
“Here's the COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan, province by province”, CBC, 10 December 2020: CBC explains the vaccine rollout plans in each province.
Joël-Denis Bellavance, Mélanie Marquis, « Trudeau n’a pas l’intention d’augmenter les transferts en santé », La Presse, 10 décembre 2020 : Les journalistes écrivent les remarques de Trudeau sur son refus d’augmenter les transferts en santé malgré la demande des premier ministres des provinces.
Philip Autier, “Trudeau has 'a responsibility' to boost health-care transfer payments to provinces: Legault”, Montreal Gazette, 2 December 2020: Authier reports Legault’s statement on Premier’s agreement to request federal government to increase the funding to cover the ballooning costs of the pandemic.
Rachel Aiello, “PM: Feds, provinces agree vaccine prioritization should be consistent Canada-wide”, CTV News, 1 December 2020: Aiello reports PM Trudeau’s statement on provinces’ stance about the vaccine prioritization policy.
Charlie Pinkerton, “Ottawa promises $1 billion for provinces to improve long-term care”, iPolitics, 30 November 2020: Pinkerton reports the federal plan to help provinces regarding long-term care after the pandemic exposed their vulnerability.
Fanny Lévesque, « Des élèves Micmacs écartés de leur école secondaire », La Presse, 16 novembre 2020 : L’article explique comment plus d’une centaine d’élèves de Listuguj, en Gaspésie, ne sont plus autorisés à fréquenter leur école secondaire de Campbellton depuis que le gouvernement du Nouveau-Brunswick a décidé de les exclure de la « bulle atlantique ».
Adam Miller, “How a national response could address an unprecedented COVID-19 surge across Canada”, CBC News, 14 November 2020: The article discusses the options for a nationwide response to the pandemic.
Jolson Lim, “Federal resources ‘not infinite’ in COVID fight, Trudeau warns premiers”, iPolitics, 13 November 2020: The articles reports Trudeau’s warning to Canadian premiers about the pandemic restrictions.
Lia Lévesque, « La loi n'est pas respectée, signale le commissaire », La Presse, 29 octobre 2020 : L’article explique les propos du commissaire aux langues officielles du Canada sur le non-respect des obligations linguistiques des institutions fédérales.
Jolson Lim, “Hundreds of federal staff now helping provinces do contact tracing”, iPolitics, 5 October 2020: Lim explains how federal government is helping provincial governments for contact tracing.
Alexandra Mae Jones, “Mapping out Canada's COVID-19 hotspots: new modelling shows where cases are rising”, CTV News, 22 September 2020: The article explains the map released by the federal government showing that the rise in cases has been far from even across the country, with several hotspots bumping up numbers nationwide.
Kevin Dougherty, “Quebec rejects federal COVID Alert exposure app — for now”, iPolitics, 25 August 2020: Dougherty reports Quebec Premier Legault’s announcement about Quebec’s decision not to deploy the federal COVID alert application in Quebec.
Charlie Pinkerton, “Canada’s COVID-19 ‘exposure notification’ app launches in Ontario and won’t track location data”, iPolitics, 31 July 2020: The federal governments’ tracking app, which was built in collaboration with Ontario, launches in the province.
Marco Vigliotti, “Atlantic premiers announce creation of regional travel bubble”, iPolitics, 24 June 2020: Vigliotti reports the creation of “Atlantic bubble”.
« Les provinces de l’Atlantique forment une bulle contre la COVID-19 », Le Devoir, 24 juin 2020 : Les quatre provinces de l’Atlantique annoncent la création d’une « bulle » entre elles afin de permettre à leurs citoyens de circuler librement d’une province à l’autre alors que le nombre de cas d’infection au SARS-CoV-2 continue de fléchir.
Hélène Buzetti, Marie Vastel, « Pas de chèque en blanc, prévient Trudeau », Le Devoir, 11 juin 2020 : Les journalistes résument la réaction de Trudeau face aux inquiétudes des provinces sur les conditions d’aide financière.
Hélène Buzetti, « Québec n’est pas seul à craindre l’empiètement d’Ottawa dans la relance de l'économie », Le Devoir, 10 juin 2020 : La journaliste compile les inquiétudes des provinces sur les conditions imposées par le gouvernement fédéral pour l’aide financière.
“Charter challenge filed against N.L.'s travel restriction Bill 38”, CBC, 20 May 2020: CBC reports the legal challenge to the Newfoundland and Labrador government’s interprovincial travel restrictions.

Other Sources / Autres sources

« Réunion des premiers ministres sur le TCS : une première étape, et encore beaucoup de travail à faire », Le Conseil de la Fédération, 10 décembre 2020 : Ce communiqué de presse fournit les détails de la rencontre du premier ministre fédéral avec les premiers ministres des provinces et territoires.
L’Observatoire international sur les impacts sociétaux de l’IA et du numérique a preparé un guide sur les enjeux et opportunités des applications de notifications d’exposition à la COVID-19.

Argentina / Argentine

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

Matías Bianchi, “Federalism and the COVID-19 crisis: More federalism than ever in Argentina”, Forum of Federations Blog: Bianchi explains how federalism is rising to the challenge in Argentina during this crisis.

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

Judith Brett, “COVID exposed our fractured national identity, but state-based loyalties were rising long before”, The Conversation, 19 October 2021: Butler argues that the pandemic contributed to the already existing trend of the strengthening of state-based identities in Australia.
Liz Hicks, “Australia and the right to repatriation”, Verfassungsblog, 12 April 2021: Hicks treats the problem of stranded Australian nationals abroad due to restrictions, and argues that the experience of citizens and residents stranded abroad once more highlights the limitations of Australia’s reliance on political, rather than rights-based, mechanisms to ensure government action is proportionate. She also raises the lack of clarity regarding the division of competences on this issue.
Marco Rizzi, Tamara Tulich, “The Australian Response to COVID-19: A Year in Review”, Verfassungsblog, 22 February 2021: Authors explain Australia’s legal and political response to the outbreak of COVID-19 that has been marked by the formation of a new intergovernmental forum, the National Cabinet.
Tamara Tulich, Ben Reilly, Sarah Murray, “The National Cabinet: Presidentialised Politics, Power-sharing and a Deficit in Transparency”, AUSPUBLAW Blog, 23 October 2020: Authors argues that the alleged effectiveness of Australia’s National Cabinet bears many resemblances to the effectiveness of presidential form of government and that this effectiveness comes at a cost.
Narelle Miragliotta, Nicholas Barry, Zim Nwokora, “Will national cabinet change federal-state dynamics?”, The Conversation, 3 September 2020: Authors discuss how National Cabinet, introduced to coordinate COVID response, will alter the Australian federalism.
Peta Stephenson, Jonathan Crowe, “Queensland Public Health Laws and COVID-19: A Challenge to the Rule of Law?”, AUSPUBLAW Blog, 21 August 2020: Stephenson and Crowe examine the mechanisms used in Queensland to issue public health directions aimed at curbing the spread of the pandemic and focus particularly on the extraordinary use of delegated legislation.
Henry Cooney, Harry Sanderson, “Border Closures and s 92: Clive Palmer’s Quest to Enter WA”, AUSPUBLAW Blog, 4 August 2020: The article examines the legal challenge to a border closure which was made by a Mr. Palmer who wanted to travel into Western Australia.
Shreeya Smith, “The Scope of a Nationhood Power to Respond to COVID-19: Unanswered Questions”, AUSPUBLAW Blog, 13 June 2020: Smith discusses the legal basis for a coordinated Commonwealth response to COVID-19.
Stephanie Branker, “An Executive Grab for Power During COVID-19?”, AUSPUBLAW Blog, 13 June 2020: Branker specifically looks at the power conferred on the federal executive by the Biosecurity Act and argues that to validly act during this crisis, the federal executive may need to rely on other sources of power than the quarantine power under Section 51 of the Australian Constitution. The article also explains how the Biosecurity Act pushes the division of power between the Commonwealth and the state to its limits.
Shipra Chordia, “Border closures, COVID-19 and s 92 of the Constitution – what role for proportionality (if any)?”, AUSPUBLAW Blog, 5 June 2020: Chordia argues that structured proportionality should not be adopted as a methodological tool in the context of Section 92 (Trade within the Commonwealth to be free) of the Australian Constitution.
Alan Fenna, “Coping with Covid-19: an encomium to Australian Federalism”, UACES Territorial Politics Blog, 12 June 2020: Fenna argues that the COVID-19 response in Australia showcased both the continuing importance of the States and the potential for genuinely collaborative intergovernmentalism despite the frictions.
Narelle Miragliotta, “National and state leaders may not always agree, but this hasn’t hindered our coronavirus response”, The Conversation, 14 April 2020: Miragliotta argues that despite the friction between NSW government and Australian Border Force over Ruby Princess debacle, Australia’s response to COVID-19 is a testament to the benefits of the federation.
Chris Wallace, “Schools have been ideological battlegrounds in the past. In the coronavirus crisis, they are again”, The Conversation, 3 May 2020: Wallace explains the tension between federal and Victorian government about closure and re-opening of schools and highlights problems of Australian federalism on matters related to education policies.
Roger Wilkins, “Federalism and the COVID-19 crisis: An Australian Perspective”, Forum of Federations Blog: Author explains how different levels of government are coordinating the response to the pandemic.
Tamara Tulich, Marco Rizzi, Fiona McGaughey, “Cooperative Federalism, Soft Governance and Hard Laws in Australia’s State of Emergency”, Verfassungsblog, 10 April 2020: Authors discuss Australian response to the crisis with a section focused on the National Cabinet “comprised of the Prime Minister of Australia, the Premiers of the six Australian states and the Chief Ministers of the two Australian territories.

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

Shahar Hameiri, “Will Australia Survive Covid?” Unherd, 26 January 2022: The author explains the shortcomings of Australian response to the Omicron wave and analyzes how federalism contributed the problems.
Aaron Patrick, “The COVID-19 pandemic has become NSW versus Australia”, Financial Review, 17 August 2021: Patrick explains the tension between the state government of NSW and the Commonwealth.
Jacqueline Maley, “Armed patrols, complacency and COVID-19: Has Australia bungled the pandemic?”, The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 July 2021: The author quotes Anne Twomey’s views that is in defense of federalism in pandemic.
Shaun Carney, “Canberra, where the bloody hell are you?”, The Age, 1 June 2021: The piece criticizes the federal government for not assigning extra expenditure on Victoria’s recent surge of cases.
Greg Craven, “For first time since WWI the states are the boss”, The Australian, 12 April 2021: Craven explains how COVID crises changed the dynamics of Australian federalism.
Robert Carling, “Has federalism failed us in the pandemic?” Spectator Australia, 30 September 2020: Carling argues that state premiers failed to come up with adequate and coordinated response to the pandemic.
Kalinga Seneviratne, “One Nation, Six Governments – COVID-19 Battle Uncovers Australian Federalism”, IDN - In Depth News, 29 August 2020: Seneviratne reports the tensions that arose in the Australian federal system hit by the second wave of the pandemic.
Anne Twomey, “We should bake in improvements in our federation”, The Australian, 6 July 2020: Twomey explains how the lessons from the pandemic can be used to improve the federal system, specifically by reforming the “National Cabinet”.
Mark Nolan, “Have the bushfires and COVID-19 highlighted a constitutional crisis in Australia?”, CSU News, 21 May 2020: Nolan highlights how recent crises underlined important issues about Australian federalism.
Allan Patience, ”The Coronavirus Pandemic and the Crisis of Australian federalism”, John Menadue – Pearls and Irritations, 25 March 2020: Patience explains how the early days of the COVID-19 crisis underlined the failure of Australian federalism.
Stephen Duckett, Anika Stobart, “Will the gloss wear off the ‘National Cabinet’?”, Croakey, 25 May 2020: Authors ask if Australia’s new intergovernmental cooperation institution, National Cabinet, will survive the pandemic and become permanent.
John Warhurst, “Grappling with the realities of a national cabinet”, Canberra Times, 26 March 2020: Warhurst questions, with a special focus on accountability, the benefits of “National Cabinet”, an intergovernmental cabinet formed to coordinate responses to COVID-19 in Australia.

News Articles / Article de presse

James Matthey, “Scott Morrison points the finger over Novak Djokovic vaccine exemption”, News.com.au, 5 January 2022: The row over Djokovic vaccine exemption for Australian visa triggers a blame-shifting game between the Commonwealth and Victoria.
Sarah Martin, “Australians believe states managing Covid pandemic better than Canberra, study finds”, The Guardian, 18 July 2021: Martin reports on the Australia Institute’s research on the perception of federalism.
Paul Carp, “Coalition offers independent schools early funding if they return to face-to-face teaching”, The Guardian, 29 April 2020: Paul Karp reports on how independent schools are caught up in the tension between federal and Victorian government.

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

Karl Stöger, “Vaccinations in a Federal State”, Lex-Atlas: COVID-19, 31 May 2021: Stöger provides an overview of discrepancies amongst different constituent units in Austria vis-à-vis vaccination campaign.
Konrad Lachmayer, “Muddling through Mutation Times or the Return of Federalism in Austria”, Verfassungsblog, 8 May 2021: Lachmayer gives o overview of Austria’s legal response to the pandemic, and explains including its repercussions on federalism.
Anna Gamper, “Austrian Federalism and the Corona Pandemic”, Institut für Federalismus Blog, 5 June 2020: Gamper explains the challenges that Austrian federalism faced during the pandemic, especially the centralizing effect and Tyrol’s unique situation during the crisis.
Peter Bußjäger, “COVID-19 crisis challenging Austria’s cooperative federalism”, Institut für Föderalismus Blog, 28 April 2020: The author focuses on some of the mistakes made in handling of the crisis and underlines the importance of intergovernmental cooperation.

Belgium / Belgique

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

Patricia Popelier, “COVID-19 legislation in Belgium at the crossroads of a political and a health crisis”, The Theory and Practice of Legislation, Vol. 8, No. 1-2, 2020: This paper discusses the corona virus crisis legislation in Belgium, against the background of a political crisis intertwined with the problems of Belgian federalism.
Frédéric Bouhon, Andy Jousten, Xavier Miny et Emmanuel Slautsky, “L’État belge face à la pandémie de Covid-19 : esquisse d’un régime d’exception”, (2020) 2446 Courrier hebdomadaire du CRISP: Les auteur.e.s expliquent comment la gestion de la crise ébranle les dynamiques du fédéralisme belge, la séparation du pouvoir au sein des gouvernements fédérés et fédéral, et le régime des droits fondamentaux. (English version: summary on I-CONNECT Blog.)

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

Karel Reybrouck, “Federal Belgium’s Covid-19 Response: dualism and exclusive powers under pressure”, Lex-Atlas: COVID-19, 13 May 2021: This post argues that Belgium’s adherence to the principles of dual federalism, which hold that the federal government and the states function in isolation from each other and reject mechanisms of cooperative and interdependent federalism, impeded a coordinated and effective Covid-19 response.
Maaike De Ridder, “Belgium’s Accordion Response to COVID-19”, Verfassungsblog, 10 March 2021: The post provides an overview of the measures taken in Belgium since March 2020 and explains how the coordination between different levels of government worked.
Centre de droit public de l’Université Libre de Bruxelles publie des carnets de crise sur les effets de la crise avec un appui sur le droit public belge.
Toon Moonen, Jonas Riemslagh, “Fighting COVID 19 – Legal Powers and Risks: Belgium”, Verfassungsblog, 25 March 2020: Authors focus on three types of early measures taken during the crisis: containment measures, the granting of ‘special powers’ to the executive and measures aimed at socio-economic survival and recovery. They also provide details on how Belgium’s federated entities use their powers to respond to the crisis.
Patricia Popeliers, “The impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the federal dynamics in Belgium”, UACES Territorial Politics Blog, 5 May 2020: Popeliers highlights the centralizing effect of this crisis and the need for an institutionalized framework for health-related crisis management.
Peter Bursens, “Federalism and the COVID-19 crisis: Reflections on competences, actors and party politics in Belgium”, Forum of Federations Blog, May 2020: Bursens examines how different federal level of governance in Belgium are operating during the crisis.
Sarah Ganty, “Belgium and COVID-19: When a Health Crisis Replaces a Political Crisis”, Verfassungsblog, 21 April 2020: Ganty shows how this crisis underlined the fragility of federalism in Belgium.

Opinions

Céline Romainville, Karel Reybrouck, « Carte blanche: vers une hiérarchie entre État fédéral et entités fédérées? », Le Soir, 3 juin 2021 : Les auteurs expliquent que la pandémie relance le débat sur la gestion des situations d’urgence en Belgique.
Steven Arrazola de Oñate, Bruno Yammine, « Gouvernons la Belgique sur la base de ses neuf provinces », La Libre, 4 mars 2021 : Les auteurs plaident pour remplacer les entités fédérales actuelles avec les provinces en raison de la complexité du système démontrée par la pandémie.
« Coronavirus en Belgique : accord entre le fédéral, les Communautés et Régions sur le Plan de relance », RTBF, 11 janvier 2020 : L’article explique les grandes axes de l’accord sur le plan de relance belge.
Xavier Counasse, Martine Dubuisson, « Quand le coronavirus montre le singulier visage du fédéralisme belge », Le Soir, 25 octobre 2020 : Les journalistes expliquent les tensions du fédéralisme belge en deuxième vague de la pandémie.
Courtney Withrow, “COVID-19 Is Pushing Belgium’s Messy Federal System to Its Limits”, World Politics Review, 6 August 2020: Withrow argues that Belgium’s divisions are as deep as ever and that COVID-19 may have only exacerbated them through its federal system.
Bernard Demonty, « La Belgique n’a pas de plan de gestion de crise », Le Soir, 10 juillet 2020 : Le journaliste explique l’absence de coordination entre les entités fédérales.
Eric Burgraff, « Grand Baromètre: les Belges veulent refédéraliser la Santé », Le Soir, 22 juin 2020 : Le journaliste explique pourquoi les Belges souhaitent que le gouvernement fédéral ait plus de pouvoir en matière de santé.
Béatrice Delvaux, « Covid: la Belgique a mal à son image », Tribune de Genève, 7 juin 2020: L’éditorialiste du « Soir » de Bruxelles soutient que la pandémie a démontré la nécessité pour une urgente amélioration de la structure belge explosée en multiples couches institutionnelles, régionales, communautaires et fédérale.
Ivan de Vadder, « Chers politiques, faites en sorte que le goût de l’après-corona ne soit pas amer », Le Soir, 6 Mai 2020 : Le chroniqueur s’interrogent sur les changements qui attendent l’État belge après cette crise en attirant l’attention des lecteurs aux demandes des réformes différentes des francophones (transfert des pouvoirs relatif à la santé publique au niveau fédéral) et des flamands (transfert des pouvoirs aux unités constituantes).

News Articles / Article de presse

Kevin Dupont, « Covid-19: le millefeuille politique responsable de la haute mortalité belge? », Moustique, Décembre 2020 : L’auteur fait un bilan des opinions sur la façon dont le système fédéral belge a géré la crise sanitaire.
Eric Deffet, « Un accord de coopération jette les bases du traçage numérique », Le Soir, 18 juin 2020: Le journaliste annonce l’accord interfédéral finalisé sur le traçage numérique.

Other Sources / Autres sources

« Le gouvernement fédéral et les entités fédérées collaborent pour la vaccination COVID-19 d’au moins 8 millions de Belges », AFMPS, 16 novembre 2020 : La Conférence Interministérielle Santé publique et du Commissaire Corona du Gouvernement fournit plus de détails sur la stratégie de vaccination et la collaboration intergouvernementale.

Bosnia and Herzegovina / Bosnie-Herzégovine

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

Nina Sajic, “Federal institutional design and the COVID 19 crisis management in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, Forum of Federations Blog: Sajic delves into the practical application of the governance structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina and how it operated throughout the COVID pandemic and points the resurfacing divide within the federation out.
Soeren Keil, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Covid-19 Crisis”, UACES Territorial Politics, 12 May 2020: Keil explains how Bosnia and Herzegovina became a “role model” on how to handle the crisis.

Brazil / Brésil

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

Catarina Ianni Segatto, Fernando Burgos Pimentel dos Santos, Renata Mirandola Bichir, Eliana Lins Morandi, “Inequalities and the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil: Analyzing un-coordinated responses in social assistance and education”, Policy and Society, 11 February 2022: This paper contributes to discussions about subnational responses to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in federal countries. In the scholarship on federalism and public policy, few studies seek to understand the factors that shape subnational differences in welfare levels. This article seeks to better understand this issue in Brazil by exploring how, in a context with little national-level coordination, subnational governments tackle the inequalities exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Victor Marcel Pinheiro, Marcelo Ilarraz, Melissa Terni Mestriner, “The impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on the Brazilian legal system – a report on the functioning of the branches of the government and on the legal scrutiny of their activities”, The Theory and Practice of Legislation, Vol. 8, No. 1-2, 2020: The article explains that state-level officials took most public health actions in Brazil, what gave rise to a clash between the President and Governors about who has authority to decide about public health measures.
Fernando Luiz Abrucio, Eduardo José Grin, Cibele Franzese, Catarina İanni Segatto & Claudio Gonçalves Couto, “Combating COVID-19 under Bolsonaro's federalism: a case of intergovernmental incoordination”, Revista de Administracao Publica Vol. 54, No. 4, August 2020: Through historical-institutional analysis, the study examines how the model of federalism adopted by President Bolsonaro's government influenced policy responses to the pandemic in the country.
Eduardo José Grin, “The Perfect Covid-19 Storm in Brazil”, Middle Atlantic Review of Latin American Studies, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2020: Author argues that the actions of the current government to deal with Covid-19 are detrimental to the cooperative type of federalism that is in place in Brazil in the last thirty years.
Sthéfano Bruno Santos Divino, “The Brazilian Government’s Actions Against the COVID-19” [.pdf], Biodritto, 16 March 2020: Author explains early measures of Brazilian federal government to fight COVID-19.

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

Emilio Peluso Neder Meyer, Thomas Bustamante, “COVID-19 in Brazil: A Sick Constitutional Democracy”, Verfassungsblog, 22 February 2021: The post explains how different institutions including subnational reacted to President Bolsonaro’s irresponsible approach to COVID-19.
Thomas Bustamante, Emilio Peluso Neder Meyer, Felipe Tirado, “Opposing an Idle Federal Government: The Brazilian Federal Supreme Court on Mandatory Vaccination”, Verfassungsblog, 23 December 2020: The article analyzes Brazilian Federal Supreme Court’s judgments on vaccination policies and argues that the court strengthened Brazilian federalism in the face of a federal government that remains largely inactive in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.
Carolina Gabas Stuchi, Vanessa Elias de Oliveira, Gilberto M. A. Rodrigues, “Covid-19 and emergency grant: a Brazil’s populist policy?”, UACES Territorial Politics Blog, 24 September 2020: Authors explain how President Bolsonaro tries to limit to autonomy of subnational governments during the pandemic in order to make way for his populist policies.
Hervé Thery, « Quels sont les facteurs associés à la propagation de l’épidémie de Covid-19 au Brésil ? », Diploweb.com, 5 juillet 2020: L’auteur cherche à identifier quels sont les facteurs associés à l’épidémie de Covid-19 au Brésil, au moins dans les modalités de sa distribution spatiale jusqu’au 14 juin 2020.
Juliano Zaiden Benvindo, “Tomorrow Knows Better: A New Inflection Point in Brazil’s Democracy?”, I-CONnect Blog, 1 July 2020: Benvindo explains how Bolsonaro’s election affected Brazilian democracy and why things are getting complicated for Bolsonaro, citing the tension between governors and Bolsonaro as a reason.
Mariana Urban, Eduardo Saad-Diniz, “Why Brazil’s COVID-19 Response is Failing”, The Regulatory Review, 22 June 2020: Authors explain Brazil’s failure to respond effectively to COVID-19 through the lens of the political crisis raging between federal and state governments.
Emilio Peluso Neder Meyer, Thomas Bustamante, “Judicial Responses to Bolsonarism: The Leading Role of the Federal Supreme Court”, Verfassungsblog, 16 June 2020: In a general recollection of the most important rulings and procedures that take part in Federal Supreme Court’s backlash at Bolsanaro, authors also reveal the tension that surfaced between the Court and Bolsanaro on state powers.
Julie VanDusky-Allen, Olga Shetsova, Andrei Zhirnov, “Brazilian Federalism and State Level Policy Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic”, The Blue Review, 10 June 2020: Authors explain how federal structure allowed subnational units to compensate the lack of action against COVID-19 on federal level.
Gilberto M. A. Rodrigues, Vanessa Elias de Oliveira, “Brazil and Covid-19: the President against the Federation”, UACES Territorial Politics, 5 June 2020: Authors argue that the conflict between the federal union and the subnational entities has challenged cooperative federalism in Brazil and has opened room for redesigning the country’s intergovernmental relations.
João Victor Archegas, Letícia Kreuz, “The ‘Constitutional Military Intervention’: Brazil on the Verge of Democratic Breakdown” Verfassungsblog, 4 June 2020: Authors explain how President Bolsanaro’s actions, including his feud with state governors, challenge Brazil’s constitutional order and why some of President’s supporters are calling for the military to play the role of “constitutional moderator”.
Marcelo Figureiedo, “Symposium: COVID-19 in Brazil - The Main Political, Social and Legal Events” IACL-AIDC Blog, 2 June 2020: Figureiedo provides examples of the steps taken by the federal government in Brazil and explains the tensions between subnational units and the federal government.
Bruno Queiroz Cunha, “Brazil’s COVID-19 Response is Caught Between Denialism and Technocratic Hubris”, The Regulatory Review, 1 June 2020: Author explains the failure of Bolsanaro’s policies during the pandemic and underlines the lack of cooperation between subnational units and the federal government.
Ana Carolina Lorena, Eduardo Henrique Correa da Silva Paranhos Neris, “Federalism and the COVID-19 crisis: Perspectives for Brazil”, Forum of Federations Blog: Authors discusses Brazil’s response to the COVID crisis and how the lack of a stable intergovernmental coordination affects this response.
Emilio Peluso Neder Meyer, Thomas Bustamante, “Authoritarianism Without Emergency Powers: Brazil Under COVID-19”, Verfassungsblog, 2 April 2020: Authors discuss Brazil’s response to crisis while addressing the power struggle between state governors and the President.

Working Papers / Documents de travail

Lorena G. Barberia, Luiz Cantarelli, Maria Leticia Claro, Isabel Seelaender Costa Rosa, Fabiana da Silva Pereira, Marcela Zamudio,”Confronting the COVID-19 Pandemic: Brazilian Federal and Subnational-Government Responses, Technical Report on Social Distancing Stringency (SDS)”, OSF, 15 April 2020: After developing a refined version of the stringency index introduced by the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker to examine federal and state policies in the Brazilian federation, the study reports on the social distancing policies adopted by the 26 states and the federal district of the Brazilian federation.

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

Jacques DeLisle, “China’s Administrative State Is Both a Blessing and a Curse”, The Regulatory Review, 30 June 2020: Author evaluates China’s response to the pandemic while providing insight to the role of local-level authorities.
Yuxue Fang, “Fighting COVID 19 – Supportive Measures for Employees and Enterprises in China”, Verfassungsblog, 22 March 2020: Fang explains the legal basis and scope of restrictive measures, and supportive measures for financially affected employees and enterprises while offering a brief overview of subnational measures.

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

Phillipp Renninger, “'Federalism, Chinese Style'? or: How to Contain COVID-19 Through a Central-Local Chess Game”, SSRN, 14 May 2021: Renninger explains the way China responded to COVID-19 through the lens of federalism and the metaphor of the chess game.

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

Laure Prevignano, « Entre Fédéralisme et Intergouvernementalisme : Une perspective de droit constitutionnel européen sur la réponse de l’UE à la crise de COVID-19 », Cahiers fribourgeois de droit européen, No. 29, août 2021 : Dans cette analyse détaillée, l’auteur soutient que Bien que le bilan de la réponse européenne à la crise ne puisse vraisemblablement être tiré que dans plusieurs années, il est nécessaire d’entamer cette analyse sans attendre ; une telle crise pourrait en effet constituer un réel écrin de possibilités nouvelles pour l’UE.

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

Laurie Buonanno, Neill Nugent, “Covid-19 and Federal Integration in the European Union”, 50 Shades of Federalism, November 2021: This paper suggests that this link between crises and federal integration is being replicated with respect to European governance of the Covid-19 pandemic in several areas, including agencification, fiscal policy, and health policy.
Peter van Elsuwege, “Lifting Travel Restrictions in the Era of COVID-19: In Search of a European Approach” Verfassungsblog, 5 June 2020: The author argues that travel restrictions imposed within the EU are increasingly untenable in the light of fundamental principles of EU law and that this chaotic response calls for a reflection on the division of competences.
Oresto Pollicino, “Fighting Covid-19 and Protecting Privacy Under EU Law — A Proposal Looking at the Roots of European Constitutionalism”, IACL-AIDC Blog, 21 May 2020: Pollicino explains the challenges on the way of developing a pan-European model of contact tracing.
Rory Montgomery, “Solidarity in a Time of Crisis: The EU and the Pandemic”, TCD COVID-19 Crisis Blog, 6 April 2020: Montgomery outlines how European solidarity is being tested as a result of the pandemic and what role the EU can play and argues the EU has more powers to combat with the economic difficulties in the aftermath of the pandemic.
Alberto Alemenno, “Testing the Limits of EU Health Emergency Power”, Verfassungsblog, 18 April 2020: Author presents the challenges that the crisis created for EU and how it showed the limits of its powers.

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

Robert Boyer, « L’Europe face à la pandémie : quelle réponse à l’échelle européenne ? », Le Grand Continent, 22 février 2022 : L’auteur fait un bilan des effets de la crise sur le projet européen.
Samir Regad, « Le fédéralisme européen : à l’aune de la pandémie de Covid-19 », Tourillon, 12 juin 2021 : L’auteur explique pourquoi l’existence d’une fenêtre d’opportunité pour les fédéralistes européens n’est pas si certaine.
Barthélémy Gaillard, « Vaccination contre le Covid-19 en Europe : où en est-on ? », Toute l’Europe.eu, 27 avril 2021 : Gaillard explique en détail comment la vaccination continue en Europe et la stratégie de la Commission Européenne en matière de vaccination.
Jean Marsia, Domenico Rossetti di Valdalbero, « Quel fédéralisme pour les États-Unis d’Europe ? », La Libre, 31 janvier 2021 : Cet article est un plaidoyer pour le fédéralisme européen.
Bertille Bayart, « Clément Beaune: «La souveraineté, ce n’est pas l’autarcie» », Le Figaro, 8 janvier 2021 : Dans cet entretien, le secrétaire d’État aux Affaires européennes défend les achats communautaires de vaccins et insiste sur la nécessité d’une autre politique commerciale.
Deborah S. Ianotti, “EU Next Generation in a (Not So) Post-Pandemic World”, The New Federalist, 21 December 2020: Ianotti explains how the most ambitious economic plan of the EU finally came to fruition overcoming all obstacles.
“Did Europe Just Experience Its “Hamiltonian Moment”?”, The International Economy, Summer 2020: Experts share their view over the “Hamiltonian Moment” debate for EU that erupted after the announcement of its COVID-19 package.
John Palmer, “Is the European Union finally moving to an economic – not just a monetary – Union?”, The Federal Trust, 21 July 2020: Palmer discusses the effects of the deal reached in the last week’s European summit amongst country leaders.
Mathis Bittion, “The Spectre of European Federalism”, National Review, 9 July 2020: Bittion argues that EU is at a critical juncture and will either become increasingly federal or shatter to pieces depending on the economic response that it will give to the pandemic related crisis.
Ivan Krastev, Mark Leonard, “Europe’s pandemic politics: How the virus has changed the public’s worldview”, European Council on Foreign Relations, 24 June 2020: Authors claim that this crisis represents a new opportunity for European integration but not as a “Hamiltonian” moment of proto-federalization.
Jacek Rostowski, Arnab Das, “Europe’s “Hamiltonian Moment” or “Fort Sumter Fusillade”?”, Project Syndicate, 8 June 2020: Authors challenge the view that, like Alexander Hamilton’s 1790 agreement with Thomas Jefferson on transferring US states’ Revolutionary War debts to the new federal government, Franco-German proposal for a €500 billion European Union recovery fund to cope with the COVID-19 crisis would pave the way to a United States of Europe.
Bruno Maçães, Anu Bradford, “The duel: could Covid-19 kill off the EU?”, Prospect, 5 June 2020: Authors debate on the effects of COVID-19 on the integration of the EU.
Irene Queralt Santamatilde, “What can Federalism Learn from Feminism?”, Tourillon, 4 June 2020: The author argues that feminism can inspire federalists to build a federal Europe based on interdependence, collaboration, and mutual care.
Théo Boucart, « COVID-19 : l’esprit de Ventotene à la rescousse de l’UE ? », Le Taurilllon, 16 avril 2020 : À partir du discours de Ursula von der Leyen au Parlement européen, l’auteur s’interroge sur la possibilité d’une Europe solidaire pour sortir de cette crise.
Eric Maurice, Ramona Bloj, Stefanie Buzmaniuk Cécile Antonnini, Catherine D’Angelo, “COVID-19: European Responses,: A Complete Picture” [.pdf], Fondation Robert Schuman, 12 May 2020: Authors provide an overview of all the measures taken so far, at national and EU level explaining that the EU’s ability act depends largely on Member States.
Fondation Robert Schuman, “The European Union and the Coronavirus”, 6 April 2020: The article outlines the EU’s competences in health, argues even though the Union did not have extensive competence on this matter, the EU’s action created an unease. It also illustrates the crisis’s fragmenting effect on European integration.
John Bruton, “Where can the EU find the ammunition to fight a coronavirus-induced economic slump?” [.pdf], Fondation Robert Schuman, 6 April 2020: Bruton criticizes the first reactions of Member States to the crisis and evaluates possible economic solutions to the economic problems.

Council of Europe/ Conseil d’Europe

Other Sources / Autres sources

Council of Europe, “Respecting democracy, rule of law and human rights in the framework of the COVID-19 sanitary crisis: A toolkit for member states”, 7 April 2020: The Council published an information document for its member states for dealing with the COVID-19 crisis in a way that respects the fundamental values of democracy, rule of law and human rights. The document acknowledges the need for central governments to bypass standard division of competences, but it also underlines that the rights of local and regional authorities should be re-established as soon as the situation allows it.

Ethiopia / Éthiopie

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

Zemelak Ayele, Yonatan Fessha, “COVID-19 in Ethiopia: A Year in Review”, Verfassungsblog, 20 April 2021: The authors explain the responses to the pandemic while arguing how the federal government dominated the response.
Yonatan Fessha, “Ethiopia’s Tigray Crisis: A Troubled Federation”, Verfassungsblog, 27 November 2020: Fessha explains the rising of tensions between the central government and state of Tigris after federal elections were postponed due to COVID-19.
Zemelak Ayitenew Ayele, “Federalism and the COVID-19 crisis: The perspective from Ethiopia”, Forum of Federations Blog: Author explains how different levels of government responded to the crisis.

Germany / Allemagne

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

Patrick Hassenteufel, « La politique de lutte contre la pandémie de Covid-19 en Allemagne : entre fédéralisme et centralisation », Les Tribunes de la Santé, No. 68, 2021 : Cet article porte sur l’importance du fédéralisme dans la politique de lutte contre la Covid-19 en Allemagne. L’auteur soutient que même si la gestion de la pandémie en Allemagne s’est fortement inscrite dans le cadre du « fédéralisme coopératif », elle a aussi donné à voir l’importance des concurrences entre Länder et des tensions entre certains d’entre eux et le gouvernement fédéral.
Sabine Kuhlmann, Jochen Franzke, “Multi-level responses to COVID-19: crisis coordination in Germany from an intergovernmental perspective”, Local Government Studies, Special Issue, 31 March 2021: This article is aimed at analysing local and intergovernmental responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany during the ‘first wave’ of the pandemic. It answers the question of how the intergovernmental system in Germany responded to the crisis and to what extent the pandemic has changed patterns of multi-level governance.
Johannes Saurer, “Patterns of Cooperative Administrative Federalism in the German Response to COVID-19”, Administrative Law Review, Vol 73, No.1, 2021: This essay explores the role of cooperative administrative federalism in COVID-19 containment from March to August 2020.
Fabian Hattke, Helge Martin, “Collective action during the Covid-19 pandemic: The case of Germany’s fragmented authority”, Administrative Theory & Praxis, Vol. 42, No. 4, September 2020: The authors show how fragmented authority can foster collective action to mount an effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic by taking Germany as an example.

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

Matthias von Hellfeld, “German federalism: COVID challenges the system”, DW, 13 December 2021: The author offers an overview of the German federalism and explains how the pandemic exposed its shortcomings.
Ian Bateson, “How the pandemic turned German politics upside down”, The Washington Post, 9 April 2021: The op-ed provides an overview of the turbulences that German federalism has gone through during the pandemic.
Zoran Arbutina, “Has German federalism failed in the pandemic? No.”, DW, 6 April 2021: The author argues that German federal system did not fail in responding to the pandemic despite its problems.
Andreas Kluth, “What’s Better in a Pandemic: Federalism or a Central State?”, Bloomberg, 1 April 2021: Kluth offers his take on the old question of federalism’s aptitude to manage crises through German example.
Sabine Kinkartz, “Opinion: Germany needs tougher measures to counter COVID-19”, DW, 6 January 2021: The author argues that German federalism has also its limits and that the country might need tighter restrictions.
Hans Georg-Betz, “How COVID-19 Stole Christmas”, Fair Observer, 23 December 2020: The author explains how the pandemic has exposed the pitfalls of German federalism.
Sadiya Ansari, “How Germany’s federation co-ordinated a pandemic response”, Policy Options, 21 December 2020: The article explains the main reasons behind the successful coordination within German federal system during the pandemic.

News Articles / Article de presse

Pascale Hugues, « Contre le Covid, Merkel bouscule le fédéralisme allemand », Le Point, 23 avril 2021 : La correspondante à Berlin explique comment la chancelière allemande a obtenu le pouvoir d’imposer un couvre-feu au niveau national.
Jean-Marc Four, « Covid-19 : l'Allemagne autorise un couvre-feu national qui écorne le principe du fédéralisme », France Info, 21 avril 2021 : Le journaliste explique les enjeux entourant l’adoption de la nouvelle loi sur le couvre-feu national.
German Lopez, “Germany contained Covid-19. Politics brought it back”, Vox, 21 April 2021: The article explains how German federalism slowed down the country’s response to the pandemic.
Esme Nicholson, “Germany Is Expected To Centralize Its COVID-19 Response. Some Fear It May Be Too Late”, NPR, 12 April 2021: The journalist reports how federalism got in the way of an effective response.
Philip Oltermann, “Merkel threatens to centralise Covid response as some states refuse to act”, The Guardian, 29 March 2021: The journalist reports Merkel’s comments on the lack of any legal mechanism to impose nationwide lockdown.
Alain Howiller, « Covid-19 : quand le fédéralisme allemand se grippe ! », EuroJournalist, 18 novembre 2020 : Howiller explique les limites du système fédéral allemand qui, en temps normal, est un paradis pour la subsidiarité, mais qui risque de devenir un défi en temps de crise.
Christophe Bourdoiseau, « Allemagne: le coronavirus met le fédéralisme à l’épreuve », Le Soir, 14 octobre 2020: Bourdoiseau explique comment la deuxième vague de la pandémie oblige Berlin à revoir une politique de restrictions régionales qui est devenue incohérente.
Mark Hallam, “Coronavirus in Germany: How the federal system hampers the fight against the pandemic”, DW, 12 October 2020: Hallam explains briefly the pros and cons of federal governance under Germany’s response to COVID-19.
Christophe Bourdoiseau, « Retour au confinement pour 650.000 personnes en Allemagne », Le Soir, 23 juin 2020 : Le journaliste explique la réapparition des frontières internes en Allemagne avec de nouveaux cas d’éclosion dans le Nord.
Philip Oltermann, “Germany's devolved logic is helping it win the coronavirus race”, The Guardian, 5 April 2020: Oltermann explains how devolution helps administering tests more effectively.
Stéphane Roland, “L’Allemagne malade de son fédéralisme”, Libération, 16 Mars 2020 : Roland présente les défis que le fédéralisme allemand peut créer dans cette crise.

India / Inde

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

Prakash Chandra Jha, “India’s Cooperative Federalism during Covid-19 Pandemic”, Indian Journal of Public Administration, 6 February 2022: The article argues that the pandemic has also brought to the fore the importance of India’s grassroots level of government, though, unfortunately, their potential remains underutilised.
Dhrvin N. Dosani, Tarkesh J. Molia, Vikash Kumar Upadhyay, “Constitutionality of Disaster Management Act, 2005 on the Touchstone of Federalism during COVID-19 in India”, Law and World, No. 18, 2021: In this article, the focus is the constitutionality of the guidelines issued by Centre during the pandemic and the interpretation laid down by the Judiciary in regard to similar incidents.
Himangshu Kumar, Manikantha Nataraj & Srikanta Kundu, “COVID-19 and Federalism in India: Capturing the Effects of State and Central Responses on Mobility”, The European Journal of Development Research, September 2021: This paper examines the relative impact of state- and central-level social-distancing policies on changes in mobility, comparing the periods before and after the national lockdown.
Abhijit Pathak and Apurba Kumar Chattopadhyay, “COVID-19 crisis and role of the Indian state”, International Journal of Pluralism and Economic Education, Vol. 12, No. 1, 2021: In this paper, authors find that the national lockdown measures have weakened the states financially, making them financially more dependent on the centre.
Sumit Ganguly, “Mangling the COVID Crisis: India’s Response to the Pandemic”, The Washington Quarterly, Vol. 43 No. 4, 2020: Author analyzes why India’s response to the pandemic has been problematic, and identifies the lack of state and central coordination as one of the reasons.

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.

Ushashi Datta, Adwiteya Grover, “Sparring Centre-States: How Centripetal Governance During a Pandemic Has Eroded Co-Operative-Federalism in India”, Rule of Law Journal, Vol. 2, 2020 (published in July 2021): This paper seeks to evaluate the unitary actions taken by the Centre in a federal setup and to analyse the alternative steps it should have undertaken to protect and preserve the socio-political fabric during the initial days of the COVID-19 crisis in India. The objective of the paper is to gauge the impact of partisan politics on India’s federal structure and on the state machinery amidst the coronavirus crisis.
Deanna Senko, “COVID-19: A Driving Force Toward Good Governance?”, Forum of Federations Blog, 11 June 2021: The author analyzes some developments in the governance due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thulasi K. Raj, “COVID-19 and the Crisis in Indian Democracy”, Verfassungsblog, 26 February 2021: The author underlines the three features that defined the Indian response to COVID-19: lack of transparency, executive monopoly (including the centralization trend), and suppression of dissent.
Varun Kannan, “Coronavirus and the Constitution – XXXV: Examining the GST Compensation Crisis”, Indian Constitutional Law and Philosophy Blog, 8 September 2020: Kannan examines the legal arguments of the central government that it has no legal obligation to compensate the State Governments for the shortfall in revenue that arose after the implementation of the GST based on the claim that the shortfall is the result of the pandemic.
Kevin James, “An overbearing Centre: Legal dimensions of India’s COVID19 response”, Indian Federalism Perspectives, September 2020: James argues that India’s COVID19 response demonstrates that the potential of its multi-level polity remains underutilised.
Ragini Agarwal, “Achieving Coordinated Action Through Interstate Cooperation”, Law School Policy Review, 8 August 2020: Agarwal explains how intergovernmental cooperation works and should work in Indian federalism.
Anubhav Khamroi, “Federalism and Covid-19: Analysing The “National Importance” Justification Of The Centre”, Law School Policy Review, 8 August 2020: Khamroi explores how India’s Centre-State relationships have been working out, during this state of de-facto emergency and questions if the States have any power to lift the lockdown.
Tejas Popat, “Union Territories or Union’s Territories – A Tryst With the Finance Commission”, Law School Policy Review, 8 August 2020: Popat argues that Union Territories’ rightful status is to be treated at par with States under the Constitution and that their exclusion from the Finance Commission puts this in danger.
Anirudh Burman, “How COVID-19 is changing Indian federalism”, East Asia Forum, 28 July 2020: The author explains how the pandemic has enabled the central government to implement far-reaching reforms in areas, such as agriculture, traditionally considered to be the domain of states.
Yashasvi Jain, Hetal Doshi, “Indian Courts’ Crusade Against COVID-19 and Executive Underreach”, IACL-AIDC Blog, 7 July 2020: This article uses the example of India’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic to discuss the role of courts when the executive falls short of its duty, specifically due to lack of coordination in multi-level governance.
Abhishek Manu Singhvi “Federalism in times of COVID: Pandemic has injected operational unitariness, deserving strict scrutiny by Supreme Court”, The Times of India Blogs, 26 June 2020: Singhvi explains how federalism became gradually important in Indian constitutional order and how COVID-19 had a centralizing effect that needs to be strictly scrutinized by the Supreme Court.
Wilfried Swenden, ”Political and Fiscal Centring: India’s Territorial Response to Covid”, UACES Territorial Politics Blog, 19 June 2020: Swenden explains how the way Modi government handled the crisis appears to have intensified the already existing centralizing tendencies.
Anindita Mukherjee, “Symposium: COVID-19 in India: Examining the Structural Enablers of Over-Centralisation: PART I & PART II”, IACL-AIDC Blog, 4 June 2020: In this two-part post, Mukherjee describes India’s response to COVID-19 by focusing on the dynamic between the Union and the States. She explains the constitutional and statutory structures that enable consolidation of power at the Union level as well as existing systems of accountability and their response to state action during this emergency.
Akshay Aurora, “The Constitutional Propriety of India’s COVID-19 Response from a Distribution of Powers Perspective”, IACL-AIDC Blog, 2 June 2020: Aurora searches to answer if the central government of India is usurping powers not vested in it.
Anmol Jain & Prannv Dhawan, “COVID-19 and Democratic Deliberation in India”, IACL-AIDC Blog, 21 May 2020: Authors explain how India’s response to COVID-19 shows the growth of centralising tendencies. They invite the Indian government to honor the constitutional requirements of co-operative governance, participatory governance and critical engagement.
Goutham Shivshankar, “Debating the Applicability of India’s Disaster Management Law to COVID-19”, Admin Law Blog, 19 May 2020: Shivshankar criticizes several authors who question the applicability of Disaster Management Act, which transfers significant powers to the central government, in the current pandemic.
Devansh Kaushnik, “The Indian Administrative Response to COVID-19”, Admin Law Blog, 5 May 2020: Kaushnik analyses the legality of the governmental response from an administrative law perspective while shedding light on measures taken by the State governments and their legality.
Gautam Bhatia, “An Executive Emergency: India’s Response to Covid-19”, Verfassungsblog, 13 April 2020: Bhatia explains the legal framework of India’s response to COVID-19, which involves multiple levels of government.
Kevin James, “Covid-19 and the Need for Clear Centre-State Roles”, VIDHI Centre for Legal Policy, 3 April 2020: Author is arguing for a clearer separation of vertical powers and criticizes the centralizing effects of COVID-19 measures taken by the central government.
Rekha Saxena, “Federalism and the COVID-19 crisis: Centre-State apposite relations in Pandemic Federalism – India”, Forum of Federations Blog, April 2020: Saxena details how the Indian federal system has worked closely together through a collaboration between the states and central government in a broad effort to flatten the curve and preserve healthcare in this populous country.

Working Papers / Documents de travail

Himangshu Kumar, Manikantha Nataraj, and Srikanta Kundu, “COVID-19 and Federalism in India: Capturing the Effects of Voluntary, State and Central Responses on Mobility”, SSRN, 9 September 2020: This paper examines and compares the relative impact of state and central level lockdown policies on changes in mobility.
Ramdas Menon, “Multi-Level Government and COVID-19: Lessons from India’s experience”, Melbourne Forum 2020 Discussion Papers, September 2020: Menon highlights how the multi-level government of India responded to the COVID-19 crisis.

Opinions

MG Devasahayam, “Federalism is a big casualty in India's fight against COVID-19”, The News Minute, 8 September 2021: The author argues that the root cause of the mismanagement of the pandemic in India is practicing top-down and coercive, instead of bottom-up and cooperative, federalism.
Karla Jones, Varij Shah, “India’s COVID Response Would Benefit from More Federalism”, American Legislative Exchange Council, 6 August 2021: The article claims that the lack of cooperation in India’s tackling of the pandemic deteriorated the crisis.
“COVID-19 shows the need for devolution”, The Hindu, 18 June 2021: The article quotes different professionals and academics who claim that pandemic has exposed limitations of centralised decision-making.
“Listen to the State”, The Indian Express, 8 June 2021: The editorial gives an overview of the tensions between states and the centre and affirms the need for cooperative federalism.
Yamini Aiyar, “GST: End of the Road for Cooperative Federalism?”, Bloomberg Quint, 2 June 2021: The author explains how the Goods and Services Tax regime, once praised as an example of cooperative federalism, is under increasing pressure, partially due to COVID-19 crisis.
Kalyani Shankar, “PM Modi’s discomfort with non-BJP CMs is hurting the very concept of cooperative federalism”, National Herald India, 1 June 2021: The author argues that all political parties that control different state governments need to rise above their electoral mindsets and work together.
Rajrishi Singhal, “The pandemic has made it urgent to review how the Centre and states share responsibilities of governance”, Mint, 24 May 2021: The article explains how pandemic has made it urgent to review how the Centre and states share responsibilities of governance in India.
Shoaib Daniyal, “With the Centre missing, Indian federalism becomes a free-for-all in the second Covid-19 wave”, Scroll, 19 May 2021: The article explains how the Centre has retreated almost to the point where it has gone missing.
Arun Ram, “The virus gnaws at federalism: This pandemic is testing the robustness of the relationship between the Centre and states”, The Times of India, 15 May 2021: The author explains several different challenges that Indian federalism is facing during the last wave of the pandemic.
R Srinivasan, “Covid and the collapse of federalism”, The Hindu Business Line, 12 May 2021: The article documents the crisis of cooperative federalism in India.
Akhil V. Menon, Rassal Janardhanan A., “COVID-19 – Lessons In Constitution And Governance”, The Leaflet, 11 May 2021: Authors analyse the crisis from the distinct prisms of the constitutional guarantee of the right to healthcare, the financial imbalance in the relations between the centre and the states, and the Supreme Court’s role in supervising the management of this crisis, and offer suggestions for strengthening institutional resilience.
Radhika Ramaseshan, “Covid shadow over Centre-state equations”, The Tribune, 28 April 2021: The author explains the tensions between the centre and the states and shows how this tension has shaped the Indian response to the pandemic.
Thulasi K. Raj & Kaleeswaam Raj, “A case for judicial federalism”, The Hindu, 26 April 2021: Authors argue that the need for a uniform judicial order across India is unwarranted in COVID-19-related cases.
Ash Narain Roy, “Is federalism moat against autocracy?”, Modern Diplomacy, 24 April 2021: The author explains how federalism is in danger in India as COVID crisis worsens.
Kaunain Sheriff M, “Vaccine politics: Why the BJP’s Bihar election move comes as a surprise to states”, The Indian Express, 28 October 2020: The author explains how the debates about the vaccine distribution already challenges the Indian cooperative federalism.
Rushali Saha, “India’s failed COVID-19 response”, South Asian Voices, 19 October 2020: Saha explains how India’s centralized and yet uncoordinated response to the pandemic became a failure.
Uday Shankar, “Strengthening Horizontal Federalism in India: Role of the Inter-State Council” Bar and Bench, 13 June 2020: The essay examines the relevance of intergovernmental relations (specifically amongst states) in the strengthening of the federal framework in India.
Ronojoy Sen, “Politics and COVID-19: Will the Pandemic Result in State Power Expanding?”, The Wire, 11 May 2020: Sen argues that the pandemic’s impact might be felt most in the expansion and reach of the state and the centralization of power.
Ashit Kumar Srivastava, Deval Garg, “Tracing Apps and Competitive Federalism”, The Statesman, 18 June 2020: Authors argue that the use of tracing apps separately by the Union government and some states raises important questions on privacy.
Rahul Sonpimple, “Caste-ing COVID-19 and Indian Federalism”, Karvaan India, 17 June 2020: Sonpimple argues that the ruling party’s (BJP) idea of ‘powerful Centre’ is embedded into the age-old upper-caste supremacy and not into the constitutional principles of responsible and robust Centre.
“Pandemic politics: Target Maharashtra”, The Telegraph India, 2 June 2020: The Editorial Board of the newspaper outlines the significant issues about the tension that arose between the central government and the state of Maharashtra.
Marya Shakil, “How Coronavirus is Altering India's Co-operative Federalism, One Border at a Time”, News 18, 31 May 2020: Shakil provides several examples to explain the effects of COVID-19 crisis on cooperation amongst states and the central government.
Kabir S. Ghosh, “Erosion of fiscal federalism in the times of COVID-19”, The Hindu Business Line, 25 May 2020: Author points out to the centralizing trend in federalism and explains how the fiscal demands the current pandemic have put extraordinary pressures on State finances.
Vignesh Karthik K.R. and Saumya Gupta, “COVID-19 as a Test of Narendra Modi's Promise of Cooperative Federalism”, The Wire, 05 May 2020: Authors claim that a shift from a centralized approach to the idea of federalism is necessary to fight the pandemic.
Niranjan Sahoo, “COVID-19 and cooperative federalism in India: So far, so good”, Observer Research Foundation, 30 April 2020: Sahoo claims that India’s cooperative federalism is being tested and praises federal system’s ability to tackle the crisis.
Parth Maniktala, “Diluting Federalism In The Fight Against COVID-19 Pandemic”, Outlook, 27 April 2020: Maniktala warns against the weakening of states’ power to cope with pandemic due to the effects of concentrating a majority of the resources in a Fund controlled by the central government.

News Articles / Article de presse

Shruti Menon, “India Covid: What are the claims around the 'free vaccine' policy?”, BBC News, 22 June 2021: The article explains, amongst other points, how the vaccine procurement procedure changed and its implications on intergovernmental relations.
“Centre’s COVID vaccine procurement policy against federalism, says Jharkhand CM”, ANI, 1 June 2021: The article reports Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s remarks on the procurement of COVID vaccines by States on their own during the ongoing pandemic and his demand from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide free vaccines to States for beneficiaries of all age groups.
“'Cooperative federalism' in Covid: Kerala's Vijayan writes to non-BJP CMs”, Business Standard, 1 June 2021: The news article report Kerala CM Vijayan’s letter to non-BJP PMs regarding the necessity of cooperative federalism for the vaccine procurement.
Moushumi Das Gupta, “How Modi’s mantra of ‘cooperative federalism’ has unravelled under 2nd Covid wave strain”, The Print, 21 April 2021: The journalist reports how Indian federalism’s failure to cooperate effectively contributed to India’s deadly second wave.
“Government sends health teams to Maharashtra, Punjab following spike in daily cases”, The Hindu, 6 March 2021: The article reports how central government intervened to alleviate the crisis in Punjab.
“Centre to Bear Expenses for 1st Phase COVID Vaccination: PM to CMs”, The Quint, 11 January 2021: The article reports Modi’s remarks on vaccination policies and federalism’s impact on this policy.
“India’s COVID-19 battle example of cooperative federalism: PM tells CMs”, The Federal, 16 June 2020: PM Narendra Modi makes the headlines in India as he claims that India has served as an example of cooperative federalism in the fight against COVID-19.

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

Fernanda Nicola, Gino Scaccia, “The Italian Model to Fight COVID-19: Regional Cooperation, Regulatory Inflation, and the Cost of One-Size-Fits-All Lockdown Measures”, Administrative Law Review, Vol 73, No.1, 2021: The article focuses on the weaknesses and the strengths of Italian response with a section on the effects of regional cooperation.
Giliberto Capano, “Policy design and state capacity in the COVID-19 emergency in Italy: if you are not prepared for the (un)expected, you can be only what you already are” Policy and Society, Vol. 29, No. 3 (2020): This paper analyses the policy dynamics of the first four months of management of the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy and discusses the implications of Italian regionalism for health policy.

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

Ratna Rueban Balasubramaniam, “COVID-19: Malaysia’s Fragile Constitutional Democracy”, Verfassungsblog, 2 March 2021: The blog post gives an overview of the pandemic measures throughout the first year of the crisis by underlining how the state-federal coordination grew weaker.
Jay Jay Denis, “COVID-19 Demands Renegotiation Of Federalism”, JDD Blog, 10 December 2020: Denis explains the crisis that Malaysian federalism has endured since March 2020.
Tricia Yeoh, “Federalism and the COVID-19 Crisis: State-Federal Tensions Arise in Malaysia”, Forum of Federations Blog, May 2020: Yeoh lays out how Malaysia used the pandemic response to weigh a more centralized approach and how that played out.

Mexico / Mexique

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

Eugenio Velasco, “COVID-19 in Mexico: A Year in Review”, Verfassungsblog, 25 February 2021: This blog post offers an overview of the measures taken in Mexico with a brief mention of sub-national authorities’ role.
Samuel Jouault, Gilles Polian, Bernard Tallet, « Deux exemples de la diversité des réactions à la crise sanitaire dans le du sud-est mexicain », COVIDAM : la Covid-10 aux Amériques, 24 septembre 2020 : Les auteurs démontrent la diversité des réalités régionales dans le contexte de la pandémie en Mexique à partir des exemples des deux états du Chiapas et du Yucatan.
Andrea Pozas-Loyo, “On the Possible Legal and Political Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic in México”, I-CONNECT Blog, 25 June 2020: Pozas-Loyo explains the important events of the crisis, including the ones that influence the separation of competences, and reflects on possible effects of the pandemic on Mexico.
Mauricio Guim, “Mexico’s Untimely Fight Against Coronavirus”, The Regulatory Review, 27 May 2020: Guim explains that Mexico was late to take measures and that many states were forced to fill this void.
Laura Flamand, “Federalism and COVID: Managing the health and economic crisis in the Mexican federation”, Forum of Federations Blog: Flamand explains the various responses from all level of government in Mexico to the COVID pandemic.

News Articles / Article de presse

Benjamin Russell, “Mexico’s Governors Find Their Voice – and the Spotlight – in COVID-19”, American Quarterly, 21 April 2020: Russell reports how governors became important actors in Mexico during this pandemic.

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

Nasala Maharjan, “The spirit of federalism amidst COVID-19 in Nepal”, Nepal Economic Forum, 7 September 2020: The author looks at how the responses to the public health crisis were coordinated at different levels of government.
Michael Callen, Rohini Pande, Trilochan Pokharel, Deepak Singhania, “COVID-19 funding in federal systems: Lessons from Nepal”, IGC Blog, 27 August 2020: This post focuses on local governments in Nepal and shows how mismatches between COVID-19 caseloads and funding can arise, and suggests an approach to close such gaps.
Iain Payne, “Transition in Crisis: COVID-19 and Federalisation in Nepal”, Asian Legal Conversations - COVID-19, 10 July 2020: Payne argues that the governmental response in Nepal has brought three observations on Nepali federalism: incomplete federalisation, weak intergovernmental relations, and emerging power centres rival to the capital.
Bijay Chhetri, “Prosperity and Justice in Nepal after COVID-19”, International Alert, 25 June 2020: Chhetri explains how this crisis will affect Nepal, including its federal order.
BK Dhrubaraj, “In Nepal, Federalism, Health Policy, and the Pandemic”, The Asia Foundation, 10 June 2020: Dhrubaraj explains how the pandemic tested Nepal’s federalism and how the country’s federal structure has risen to this challenge.
Prakriti Nepal, Amol Acharya, Nicola Nixon, “Nepal: federalism and Zoom under lockdown”, DevPolicyBlog, 9 July 2020: Authors explains how Nepal’s fragile federal system dealt with the pandemic and how Zoom was used for coordination and consultation with local governments.
Iain Payne, George Varughese, “Governing Lawfully in Crisis: COVID-19 and Public Accountability in Nepal” IACL-IADC Blog, 26 March 2020: Payne and Varughese raise their concerns about the probable centralizing effects of the response to this crisis.
Surendra Pandey, “Federalism and the COVID-19 crisis: Nepal’s Condition and Efforts”, Forum of Federations Blog, April 2020: Pandey describes Nepal has grappled with the COVID pandemic during their transition period to federalism.

Working Papers / Documents de travail

Tara Prasad Kharel, “Local Governments in Managing COVID-19 Pandemic in Nepal: Beyond the Constitutional and Legal Limit”, Research Gate, September 2021: This paper aims to analyze the constitutional and legal provision of public health in Nepal. Furthermore, this paper tries to analyze the role of local governments on COVID-19 management and tries to compare its constitutional jurisdiction elaborating the importance of the local governments in federal structure.
Deepak Chaudhary, “Post Covid-19 Local Government under the federalism in Nepal”, Academia.edu, 2021: This PowerPoint presentation explores the role of local government in tackling Covid and discusses the challenges through analytical aspects and contents of review.
Budhi Karki, “Multi-Level Government and COVID-19: Nepal as a case study”, Melbourne Forum 2020 Discussion Papers, September 2020: This paper highlights how the multi-level government of Nepal responded to the COVID-19 crisis.

Opinions

Kushal Pokharel, “Managing Covid-19 the local way”, The Kathmandu Post, 22 September 2021: The author points out to the success of local governments in the pandemic response.
Sajal Mani Dhital, “Covid-19 Nepal: Federalism fared badly as politics and pandemic collided. What next?”, OnlineKhabar, 21 June 2021: Dhital claims that newly adopted federal system failed to contain the pandemic as well.

News Articles / Article de presse

Anil Giri, “A system that failed in the fight against the pandemic”, The Kathmandu Post, 26 April 2021: The author explains how the powerlessness of sub-national authorities resulted in the failure of federalism’s response to the pandemic.

Other Sources / Autres sources

"Local governments lack resources to tackle Covid-19”, Nepali Times, 6 October 2020: In this interview, Professor Rohini Pande explains how and why subnational units in Nepal were not prepared for the pandemic.

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

Dele Babaloa, “Federalism and the Covid-19 pandemic: the Nigerian experience”, UACES Territorial Politics, 22 May 2020: Author argues how Nigerian federalism mostly rose to the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis with cooperative federalism, but also explains minor conflicts between the two levels of government.
Lukman Abdulrauf, “Nigeria’s Emergency (Legal) Response to COVID-19: A Worthy Sacrifice for Public Health?”, Verfassungsblog, 18 May 2020: Abdulrauf discusses restrictions on human rights, including the suspension of inter and intra state movements, due to the state of emergency as well as the controversial the Control of Infectious Diseases Bill 2020.
Julius O. Ihonvbere, “Federalism and the COVID-19 crisis: Nigerian Federalism”, Forum of Federations Blog: Ihonvbere discusses Nigeria’s response to COVID-19 and explains how it shows central government’s dependence on local authorities.

Working Papers / Documents de travail

Remi Okeke, “COVID-19 Pandemic, Federalism and Nigeria’s Leadership Challenges”, Advance, 20 April 2020: Okeke proposes to restructure Nigerian state by creating more states for post-COVID-19 period.

Pakistan

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

David A. Thirlby, “Does the Fight Against the Pandemic Risk Centralizing Power in Pakistan?”, European Journal of Law Reform, No. 4, 2020: This article argues that despite the weakening of the devolution process in Pakistan due to the pandemic, the situation is more complex than it seems.

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

Shaheera Syed, Nadia Tariq-Ali, “Democratic Deficits of COVID-19 Crisis in Pakistan”, Verfassungsblog, 9 April 2021: The authors assess the pandemic response in Pakistan through the lens of federalism and multi-level governance.
Hassan Javid, Sameen M. Ali, Umair Javed, “Factional Federalism, State Capacity, and Fiscal Constraints: Pakistan’s COVID-19 Challenges”, LSE South Asia Centre Blog, 3 April 2020: Authors explain how the country’s ability to effectively deal with the virus will be impeded by tensions between the central and provincial governments, a lack of state capacity, and fiscal constraints.
Saleem Mandviwalla, “Federalism and the COVID-19 crisis: A Pakistani Perspective”, Forum of Federations Blog: Mandviwalla documents how recent constitutional changes gave provinces the ability to react swiftly to the pandemic in the health sphere while the federal government flexed their muscle to aid the economy.

Working Papers / Documents de travail

Yasser Kureshi, “Multi-Level Government and COVID-19: Lessons from Pakistan’s experience”, Melbourne Forum 2020 Discussion Papers, September 2020: This paper highlights how the multi-level government of Pakistan responded to the COVID-19 crisis.

News Articles / Article de presse

“Federalism, parliamentary democracy eroding in Pakistan: Senator Rabbani”, Business Standard, 17 March 2021: The article reports the remarks of a Pakistani senator on the state of federalism and democracy in Pakistan.
Nasir Iqbal, “SC dismayed at closure of businesses by provincial govts” Dawn, 5 May 2020: Supreme Court of Pakistan expressed dismay over shutting down of business activities by the provincial governments during ongoing proceedings.

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

Teresita Tanhueco-Tumapon, “Federalism: The ‘powerful center’”, The Manila Times, 8 April 2021: The author summarizes different works on federalism in Phillipines and COVID.
Azer Parrocha, “Covid-19, typhoons ‘sharpen’ need for federalism: Puno”, Philippine Canadian Inquirer, 29 November 2020: Journalist reports Former Chief Justice’s speech supporting a federal system in the Philippines.

Russia / Russie

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

Paul Chaisty, Christopher J. Gerry, Stephen Whitefield, “The buck stops elsewhere: authoritarian resilience and the politics of responsibility for COVID-19 in Russia”, Post-Soviet Affairs, 7 December 2021: Authors analyze data from a national probability sample of Russians conducted following the first wave of the pandemic in July/August 2020 and find that Putin’s blame-deflecting strategy to subnational authorities appears to have been broadly but not entirely successful
A. Yushkov, M. Alexeev, “The fiscal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Russian regions: An overview of federal support measures”, Journal of the New Economic Association, Vol. 51, No. 3, 2021 (Article in Russian, abstract in English): In this article, authors analyze the structure of federal fiscal support to the regions and compare the largest intergovernmental transfers in 2020 and 2019 by their type (unconditional transfers, subsidies, subventions, and other transfers) to understand how the federal government responded to the pandemic’s challenges.
Marat Salikov, “Federalism in Russia: Current State and Emerging Trends”, BRICS Law Journal, Vol. 7, No. 4, 2020: The article considers the phenomenon of federal relations in modern Russia from a theoretical and normative point of view. It also includes a subsection on the impact of COVID-19 on these relations.

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

Dmitrii Kofanov, Vladimir Kozlov, Alexander Libman, Nikita Zakharov, “Encouraged to Cheat? How Federal Incentives and Career Concerns Trigger Under-Reporting of COVID-19 Mortality by Subnational Politicians”, SSRN, 9 November 2020: This paper investigates the political determinants (such as approaching constitutional referenda or regional elections) of manipulating COVID-19 mortality in Russian Federation.

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

Geo Quinot, “Justification, Integration, and Expertise: South Africa’s Regulatory Response to COVID-19”, Administrative Law Review, Vol 73, No. 1, 2021.

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

Nico Steytler, “Federalism and the COVID-19 crisis: A perspective on South Africa”, Forum of Federations Blog: Author explains how this crisis illustrated the centralized nature of South African federalism and argues for a more differentiated response for the exit strategy and economic recovery.

Spain / Espagne

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

Mikel Erkoreka, “The fiscal and budgetary impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the public finances of the Basque Country: the Basque system of fiscal federalism put to the test”, Ekonomiaz, No. 100, 2021: This article analyzes the fiscal and budgetary impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the public finances of the Basque Country during 2020 and evaluates the performance and sufficiency of the system of fiscal federalism regulated by the Basque Economic Agreement.
Marc Sanjaume-Calvet, Mireia Grau Creus, “Multinationalism in the Spanish Territorial Debate during the COVID-19 Crisis. The Case of Catalonia and Intergovernmental Relations”, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Vol. 27, No. 3, 2021: This paper analyses the relationship between the COVID-19 crisis and multinationalism in Spain from two complementary angles. First, it provides an overview on how the multinational and decentralized character of Spanish territorial politics shapes the response to the crisis. Second, it analyses the effects of the pandemic on Catalan self-determination demands through a brief description of parties, public opinion and governmental reactions.

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

Alicia Cebada Romero, Elvira Dominguez Redondo, “Spain: One Pandemic and Two Versions of the State of Alarm”, Verfassungsblog, 26 February 2021: This post focuses on the two different approaches that the central Spanish government adopted in the two waves of the pandemic.
Patricia García Majado, “The Covid-19 Measures in Madrid, and why they Suffered Defeat in Court”, Verfassungsblog, 11 October 2020: Majado explains the legal issues regarding the Court’s refusal to ratify a perimeter closure issued by the Community of Madrid.
Mireia Grau-Creus, Marc Sanjaume-Calvet,” ‘Loyalty does not mean submission’: On the COVID-19 measures and the apparently surprising features of the Spanish territorial model” UACES Territorial Politics Blog, 26 May 2020: Authors argue that this crisis has revealed the structurally centralized features of the Spanish intergovernmental system and, in extension, of the whole territorial institutional system.
Susana de la Sierra, “Old Norms and New Challenges in Spain’s Response to COVID-19”, The Regulatory Review, 20 May 2020: Author explains the challenges surfaced due to COVID-19 and mentions the centralizing effect of the measures taken by the Spanish government.
Alba Nogueira López, Gabriel Doménech Pascual, “Fighting COVID 19 – Legal Powers and Risks: Spain”, Verfassungsblog, 30 March 2020: Authors look at major legal issues related to COVID-19, including the question of whether the central government should have powers devolved to better manage the crisis power grab of the central government.
Ayoze Corujo, Acaymo Viera, “Canary Islands, Spain and Covid-19”, UACES Territorial Politics, 19 May 2020: Authors focus specifically on the relationship between the Canary Islands and Spain while explaining how and why the central government is adopting territorially different responses for the exit strategy.
Miguel Ángel Presno Linera, “Beyond the State of Alarm: COVID-19 in Spain”, Verfassungsblog, 13 May 2020: Linera outlines the legal foundations of the State of Alarm declared by the Spanish government and explains how Spain’s decentralized structure fits into this frame.
Mario Kölling, “Federalism and the COVID-19 crisis: A perspective from Spain”, Forum of Federations Blog, April 2020: Kölling describes Spain’s healthcare system and the rapid federal response to the pandemic.

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

Sandrine Model, « Le Covid-19 pousse l’Espagne sur la voie du fédéralisme », Le Monde, 12 avril 2021 : Model explique comment le royaume s’est dirigé vers un modèle de décentralisation encadrée pour faire face à la pandémie.
Javier Galan, “New law introduces stricter face mask rules in Spain”, El Pais, 31 March 2021: The article explains the new law adopted by the central government and the resistance by some of the regional governments.

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

Lukas Schmid, « Retard à combler dans la protection de la population », Avenir Suisse, 3 février 2022 : La protection de la population en temps de crise dépend de la répartition claire des responsabilités entre les états-majors, les organisations d’intervention d’urgence, les acteurs de la santé publique et la protection civile. Peu de lois cantonales sur la protection de la population sont structurées pour que les responsabilités puissent être définies selon la situation. Les lois devraient s’orienter sur le modèle d’escalade à trois niveaux et distinguer différentes phases d’événements.
Lukas Schmid, « Absence de ligne politique dans le dossier du fédéralisme », Avenir Suisse, 17 juin 2021 : L’auteur explique que malgré les désordres apparus en lien avec le fédéralisme lors de la crise du Covid-19, L’espoir d’une réforme imminente s’estompe de plus en plus, ce qui risque d’amplifier les crispations au niveau fédéral.
Jan von Overbeck, « Les limites du fédéralisme dans la gestion de la pandémie Covid-19 », Le Temps Blog, 11 mars 2021 : L’auteur explique en quoi le fédéralisme est limité pour répondre à cette crise en comparant la situation actuelle à la pandémie de 1918.
Felix Uhlmann, Odile Ammann, “Switzerland and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Look Back and a Look Into the Future”, Verfassungsblog, 1 March 2021: Authors explains a year of COVID measures as they also underline the centralizing effect of the crisis.
Lukas Schmid, Pascal Lago, « L’odyssée du fédéralisme et de la démocratie en temps de Covid », Avenir Suisse, 5 février 2021 : Dans cette analyse, les auteurs formulent huit recommandations pour améliorer la gestion des crises par la Confédération.
Haig Simonian, “Federalism and Collegiality Put to the Test”, Avenir Suisse, 23 December 2020: Simonian argues that the country requires better co-operation and mutual information flows between different levels of government to develop a coherent pandemic policy.
Eva Maria Belser, Simon Mazidi, “Does Swiss Federalism Need Oxygen Treatment After Been Hit by the Covid-19 Crisis?”, UACES Territorial Politics, 2 June 2020: Belser and Mazidi explain how the crisis affected Swiss federalism by focusing on the three-stage model of the Federal Epidemics Act.
Odile Ammann,” Regulatory Uncertainty Over Emergency Powers in Switzerland”, The Regulatory Review, 29 May 2020: Ammann explains how Swiss federalism faced regulatory uncertainties in dealing with COVID-19.
Felix Uhlmann, “Fighting COVID 19 – Legal Powers and Risks: SWITZERLAND”, Verfassungsblog, 23 March 2020: Uhlmann explains the legal background and early-stage problems regarding the response to COVID-19 as well as its impact on federalism.
Hans Altherr, “Federalism and the COVID-19 crisis: An interim perspective from Switzerland”, Forum of Federations Blog, April 2020: Altherr looks at what Switzerland has done to date.

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

«Le fédéralisme fait partie de la Suisse comme l’amen dans l’Église», Le Matin, 26 décembre 2021: L’article résume un interview récent de Guy Parmelin, le Président de la Confédération.
“The “new” COVID-19 law passes the Swiss people’s scrutiny”, Swiss Federalism, November 2021: The article reports on the results of the last referendum of 2021 on COVID measures.
« La pandémie a renforcé le fédéralisme, selon Alain Berset », Le Nouvelliste, 27 mai 2021 : L’article contient un résumé des propos d’Alain Berset, ministre de la santé, dans la conférence sur le fédéralisme en Suisse.
« Les opposants à la loi Covid-19 dénoncent un texte liberticide », RTS, 15 avril 2021 : En vue d’un référendum fédéral sur la loi COVID-19, les opposant dénoncent la loi comme liberticide et dangereux pour le fédéralisme.
Bernard Wuthrich, « Le fédéralisme mis à rude épreuve », Le Temps, 22 décembre 2020 : L’article explique les différentes positions prises par le Chancellerie fédéral et la Conférence des gouvernements cantonaux sur les dysfonctionnements survenus durant la deuxième phase.
Noémie Guignard, « Le fédéralisme, allié ou ennemi en temps de crise? », Le Temps, 9 décembre 2020 : La pièce inclut les avis des experts soutenant qu’un système fédéraliste concurrentiel empêche de lutter efficacement contre le coronavirus.
Christophe Reymond, « Le fédéralisme est un atout, en situation de crise aussi », 24 Heures, 1 décembre 2020 : Reymond soutient que la répartition des tâches entre Confédération et Cantons est une des bases du fonctionnement de la Suisse même en pleine pandémie.
Alain Meyer, “How Covid-19 is crash-testing Swiss federalism”, Swiss Info, 16 November 2020: The article explains the sharp criticisms directed to the Swiss federal system due to its inconsistencies.
Bernard Wuthrich, « Les limites du fédéralisme face à la pandémie », Le Temps, 18 octobre 2020 : Le journaliste soutient que la crise a démontré la nécessité d’un minimum de règles unifiées en matière sanitaire.
Annick Chevillot, « La loi Covid-19 et les pouvoirs spéciaux du Conseil fédéral menacés par un référendum », Heidi. News, 9 septembre 2020 : L’article explique les grands enjeux autour de la loi Covid-19 votée au Parlement.
« Loi COVID-19 : Les cantons d’accord sur les principes », Tribunal de Genève, 28 août 2020 : Cet article annonce le résultat La Conférence des gouvernements cantonaux sur la nouvelle loi et énumère les inquiétudes soulevées par les cantons.
Bernard Wuthrich, « Par temps de Covid, les pouvoirs controversés du Conseil fédéral », Le Temps, 25 août 2020 : Le journaliste explique le projet de loi Covid-19, qui vise à prolonger une partie de ces mesures extraordinaires en donnant pouvoir au Conseil fédéral.
Vincent Bourquin, « Après la crise mondiale, la Suisse ne sera plus la même », Le Temps, 10 juin 2020 : Le journaliste synthétise les opinions de différents politologue concernant l’impact de la COVID-19 sur le système politique suisse, y compris son système fédéral.
Patrick Monay, « Le virus met le fédéralisme suisse à l’épreuve », 24 Heures, 27 mars 2020 : Le journaliste explique les tensions entre la confédération suisse et les cantons en ce qui concerne les directives de protection contre la COVID-19.
Urs Geiser, “How the virus puts the Swiss political system to test” SwissInfo, 27 Mars 2020: The journalist explains how Switzerland avoids sacrificing its federal system while responding to the COVID-19.

Other Sources / Autres sources

Daniele Mariani, « Trop de chefs d’orchestre désaccordés ont géré la pandémie », SwissInfo, 24 janvier 2021 : Dans un interview avec Andrea Arcidiacono, consultant, économiste et journaliste, Mariani offre un récit compréhensif de la gestion de crise en Suisse pendant la première et la deuxième vague.
Samuel Jaberg, « Guy Parmelin: « La Suisse accorde toujours la priorité à la santé de sa population » », Swiss Info, 27 décembre 2020 : Dans cet interview, le Président de la Confédération explique sa vision pour lutter contre la pandémie en tout respectant les limites du fédéralisme.
L’Institut du Fédéralisme a publié une infolettre spéciale sur COVID-19 et le fédéralisme suisse.

United Kingdom / Royaume-Uni

Research Papers & Reports / Documents de recherche & Rapports

Jess Sargeant, “The four governments of the UK must better co-ordinate their coronavirus approaches” Institute for Government, 30 October 2020: As coronavirus cases rise across all four parts of the UK, Jess Sargeant calls for coordination of different approaches to lockdown rules amongst Westminster and the devolved governments.
Jess Sargeant, “Co-ordination and divergence: devolution and coronavirus”, Institute for Government, 29 October 2020: Author argues that the four governments of the UK must better co-ordinate their different approaches to lockdown restrictions to control the rising number of cases in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Alex Thomas, “England’s patchwork quilt governance is not strong enough for a crisis like coronavirus”, Institute for Government, 26 October 2020: Thomas argues that England’s ad hoc governance structures are too reliant on politicians muddling through. The coronavirus crisis has highlighted the need for a change in mindset from central government.
Elspeth Nicholson, Akash Paun, “Devolved legislatures: how are they working in the coronavirus lockdown?”, Institute for Government, 28 May 2020: This explainer describes and compares how the three devolved legislatures (Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland) of the UK have responded to the challenge of operating during the lockdown.
Akash Paun, Jess Sargeant, Alex Nice, “A four-nation exit strategy”, Institute for Government, 06 May 2020: Authors explain why differentiated exit strategies are necessary and offer suggestions about how to avoid confusion.

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

“Would handing No. 10’s powers to local leaders have improved the UK’s Covid response?”, The Week, 22 October 2020: The article argues that a more regional response to the pandemic could have been a more robust response to the pandemic.
“The Guardian view on UK Covid-19 coordination: work together, save lives”, The Guardian, 17 May 2020: The Guardian’s editors advocate for coordination of devolved governments’ exit strategies.
Nick Timothy, “Coronavirus has exposed British devolution as a dangerous mess”, The Telegraph, 17 May 2020: Timothy argues that the pandemic exposed how and why the devolution is not functioning.
Darren McCaffrey, “Is COVID-19 further dividing the 'United' Kingdom?”, Euronews, 14 May 2020: Author discusses the effect of devolution on the Union through devolved governments’ responses to the crisis and their exit strategies.

News Articles / Article de presse

Laura Webster, “UK wrongly tells Scots civil servants told to go back to work”, The National, 12 May 2020: The journalist reports on differences between England and Scotland regarding the lifting of lockdown.
Kathleen Nutt, “Devolved nations reject Westminster's new 'stay alert' slogan”, The National, 11 May 2020: Kathleen Nutt reports on devolved governments’ resistance to Westminster’s exit strategy from the lockdown.
Kate Proctor, “Wales could lift coronavirus lockdown before rest of UK, says first minister”, The Guardian, 27 April 2020: Journalist presents the possibility of a different lockdown lifting plan for Wales and discusses how this can fit into a coordinated UK plan.

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

Judi Abbott Curry, “PREP Act Preemption: “There is no COVID-19 Exception to Federalism”, JDSUPRA Blog, 20 December 2021: The post reviews a recent judgment of the Third Circuit Court regarding the applicant of PREP Act to nursing homes during the pandemic.
Emily Eslinger, Michel Paradis, “Federalism and Coronavirus Vaccination Mandates for Military Personnel”, Lawfare Blog, 9 December 2021: This post explains how Oklahoma governor defied the federal vaccination mandate for military personnel by exempting Oklahoma National Guard and reviews its validity.
Bryan Caplan, “Covid Migration: Why the Asymmetry?” EconLog, 7 December 2021: The writer shares and comments the results of an informal Twitter survey on people changing states due to pandemic restrictions.
John Kincaid, J. Wesley Leckrone, “In US COVID-19 responses, party polarization has trumped cooperative federalism”, LSE USAPP Blog, December 2021: Authors explain that write that while some commentators have lamented that there was not a more centralized response, cooperation between the federal and state and local governments was restricted by partisan polarization and a president ideologically opposed to many COVID-19 mitigation measures.
Darien Shanske, “Getting Beyond Ad Hoc Fiscal Federalism: A Proposal for a Default Federal Liquidity Facility for the States”, The Yale Law Journal Forum, 28 November 2021: This essay argues that federal fiscal responses were successful, though imperfect, and should be built upon. In particular, the author argues that the federal government could accomplish more, and likely spend less, by establishing a default federal-credit facility to aid the states during crises.
Andrea Gustafson, “Covid-19 Could Strengthen Federalism in the United States”, Items, 2021: The author finds that, in response to the Covid-19 crisis, governors and state legislatures are taking a more active role, often in opposition to leaders at the federal-level. Noting a trend toward the “nationalization” of United States politics prior to the pandemic, Gustafson argues that “strengthening” federalism may reinvigorate democratic participation at the state level and prevent federal overreach, which may in turn combat democratic erosion.
Ryan Bourne, “The COVID-19 Case for Bigger Government Is Weak”, Cato Institute, 9 September 2021: Offering an overview of the US’ pandemic policy, the essay also briefly discusses the claims that puts the blame on federalism.
Scott Bomboy, “The constitutional issues related to Covid-19 mask mandates”, Constitution Daily, 13 August 2021: This post explains the issues related to the mask mandates such as the separation of powers within the federal government; the balance of power between the federal government and the states; and power sharing within a state, under its own constitution, between state legislatures, the chief executive, and local government agencies such as school boards.
Marshall Thompson, “A Challenge to Federalism: Mask Mandates and Subsidiarity”, The Prindle Post, 24 May 2021: This post examines how subsidiarity principle plays out amongst different levels of subnational government.
Julie VanDusky-Allen, Olga Shetsova, “How America’s partisan divide over pandemic responses played out in the states”, The Conversation, 12 May 2021: The authors argue that, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, a partisan divide has existed over the appropriate government response to the public health crisis.
Mark A. Graber, “COVID-19, the United States and Evidence-Based Politics”, Verfassungsblog, 14 April 2021: Graber surveys the different crises that the US went through during the pandemic.
Lawrence O. Gostin, Meryl Justin Chertoff, “Lockdowns, Quarantines, And Travel Restrictions, During COVID And Beyond: What’s The Law, And How Should We Decide?”, Health Affairs Blog, 24 March 2021: This article generally presents the international and inter-state travel restrictions in the US and their legal basis.
Blandine Chelini-Pont, « Quand la Cour Suprême des États-Unis panthéonise la ‘free-exercice clause’ à l’occasion de la pandémie », COVID-AM, 25 février 2021 : L’auteure explique comment certaines organisations religieuses ont contesté les restrictions sur les rassemblements dans les lieux de culte que les gouverneurs ont imposé au près des tribunaux fédéraux.
Amy Howe, “Divided court allows indoor worship services to resume in California”, SCOTUSBlog, 6 February 2021: This blog post discusses Supreme Court’s order (South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom) to allow indoor worship places to resume in California.
Amy Howe, “Divided court allows indoor worship services to resume in California”, SCOTUSBlog, 6 February 2021: This blog post discusses Supreme Court’s order (South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom) to allow indoor worship places to resume in California.
Claire Anchordoqui, « L’impact sanitaire et culturel de la covid-19 sur les réserves sioux du Dakota du Sud », COVIDAM Blog, 4 février 2021 : L’article explique les mesures prises par les gouvernements tribaux des différentes réserves amérindiennes situées au sein du Dakota du Nord et du Sud face au refus des deux gouverneurs républicains des deux états de mettre des mesures en place.
Jamison Chung, “How Federalism Has Harmed Public Health”, The Regulatory Review, 23 December 2020: Chung provides an overview of several articles arguing that federalism complicated the response to the pandemic.
Christopher F. Koller, “A Federalism Reset”, Milbank Memorial Fund President’s Blog, 21 December 2020: Koller calls for a reset of federalism around three principles: wise leadership at state and federal level, judicious use of federal authority, reliable intergovernmental communication.
Alan Tarr, “Covid-19, the USA and the Generation of Constitutional Conflict”, 50 Shades of Federalism: This article examines the scope of power granted to the federal government by the U.S. Constitution and the legislative power available to states under state constitutions, concluding that these powers are adequate to deal with the pandemic and other emergencies. It also considers whether having multiple governments confronting the crisis has precluded a coordinated response.
Jennifer Selin, “How the Constitution’s federalist framework is being tested by COVID-19”, Brookings FixGov Blog, 8 June 2020: Selin explains four major developments in the US federal system of government illuminated by COVID-19.
Marion Marchet, « Voter par correspondance à l'heure de la Covid-19 : le cas de l'Ohio », COVIDAM : la Covid-19 dans les Amériques, 3 juin 2020 : Marchet explique comment la compétence des États en matière d’élection influence le débat sur le vote par correspondance pour les élections présidentielles.
Victoria Gonzales Maltes, « L’épidémie propulse les gouverneurs américains sur la scène nationale », COVIDAM : la Covid-19 dans les Amériques, 28 mai 2020 : L’auteur explique les conflits entre les gouverneurs et Président Trump et s’interroge sur les conséquences de ces conflits.
Anand Devaiah, Michael Wijaranakula, Chinmay Kommuru, and Rena M. Conti, “Medical Product Procurement in A Time Of Federalism: The COVID-19 Challenge”, Health Affairs, 18 May 2020: Authors review the current US medical product purchasing and distribution model and discuss the current federal response to challenges raised by the COVID-19 crisis.
Alexander W. Salter, “How the Fed’s COVID-19 Response Undermines Federalism”, American Institute for Economic Research, 13 May 2020: Authors criticize the Federal Reserve’s interventions into state and local debt markets as they threaten the efficacy and independence of these lower, more local governments.
Sarah H. Gordon, Nicole Huberfeld, David K. Jones, “What Federalism Means for the US Response to Coronavirus Disease 2019”, JAMA Health Forum, 8 May 2020: Authors explain why the public health federalism needs to be adjusted.
Emmanuelle Perez Tisserand, « La Californie est-elle un « État-nation »? », COVIDAM : la Covid-19 dans les Amériques, 15 Mai 2020 : L’auteure explique comment la COVID-19 a accentué les tensions entre la Californie et le gouvernement fédéral. (For the English version, click here.)
John Kincaid, “U.S. Federalism and the Covid-19 Pandemic”, UACES Territorial Politics, 15 May 2020: Kincaid explains how the US response “has been hampered by partisan polarization and misunderstood federalism”.
Stephen M. Griffin, “American Federalism, the Coronavirus Pandemic, and the Legacy of Hurricane Katrina”, IDEA - Voices From the Field, 22 April 2020: Griffin questions if a national emergency regime with a more centralized governance is a better response to this type of emergency situations.
Maryam Jamshidi, “The Federal Government Probably Can’t Order Statewide Quarantines”, The University of Chicago Law Review Online, 20 April 2020: The article explains the limits on federal authority over mandatory, statewide quarantines.
Jennifer Selin, “Trump vs. the States: What Federalism means for the corona virus Response”, The Conversation, 17 April 2020: Selin discusses how division of powers within US federalism affects the response to COVID-19 crisis.
Mathilde Laporte et Maud Michaut, « Crise du Covid-19 et fédéralisme aux États-Unis », Jus Politicum Blog, 14 avril 2020 : Les doctorantes expliquent les effets des mesures sur la libre circulation au sein de l’Union et s’interrogent sur leur conformité à la constitution fédérale en se concentrant sur les relations intergouvernementales.
Alexandra Cockerham, Robert E. Crew Jr, “The Covid-19 pandemic shows the power and limits of American federalism.” LSE US Centre Blog, 3 April 2020: Authors explain how the crisis shed light on American federalism.
Ben Berwick, John Langford, Erica Newland, Kristy Parker, “Trump Can’t Reopen the Country Over State Objections”, Lawfare Blog, 27 March 2020: Authors argue that the US President does not have authority to reopen the country if states resist.
Robert Chesney, “Can the Federal Government Override State Government Rules on Social Distancing to Promote the Economy?”, Lawfare Blog, 24 March 2020: Chesney discusses if the President has the power to force the state and local officials’ to change their decisions.
Leila Barraza, Sarah A. Wetter, “Fighting COVID 19 – Navigating Protections for Businesses and Workers in the United States”, Verfassungsblog, 22 March 2020: Authors discuss economic measures that the federal government can take to fight this crisis while underlining the fracture between states and the federal government.
Kyle J. Connors, “Federalism and Contagion: Reevaluating the Role of the CDC”, ConLawNOW, No. 12, 18 March 2020: Connors argues for greater federal leadership and involvement to mount the most effective response to a pandemic in the United States.
J. Wesley Leckrone, John Kincaid, “Federalism and the COVID-19 Crisis in the United States of America”, Forum of Federations Blog, 2020: Professors explain how state governments and the US federal government use distinct constitutional powers to manage this crisis.

Working Papers / Documents de travail

Willian R. Bowen, “Progressives, the COVID Pandemic, and the Laboratories of Democracy: Is the Left Saying “Goodbye” to Cooperative Federalism?”, A Conference on Culture & Crisis Conference Papers, 12 May 2021: This paper explores the apparent retreat of progressives from their commitments to cooperative federalism, specifically, whether these references signal a tactical shift for short-term political gains or a more fundamental shift in progressive ideology.
Aaron Chan, “Comparative analysis of COVID-19 protective public health policy responses in New York and Ohio”, The Open Depository @ Birmingham University Working Paper Series, May 2021: The article compares New York and Ohio in the earliest pandemic phase of March-April 2020 and then extend this comparison through July 2020, because of their governors’ opposite party affiliation and similarity in the time frame in which the pandemic impacted the states the worst.
Sharon Elhadad, “Policy Diffusion in Federal Systems During a State of Emergency: COVID-19 State-wide Lockdown Policies Across the US”, ECPR General Conference Paper, 2021: The article develops an original unified model of policy diffusion to analyse the speed of adoption of state-wide lockdown policies within a federal system during the COVID-19 pandemic and examines three channels of policy diffusion: vertical, internal, and regional.
James G. Hodge, “National Legal Paradigms for Public Health Emergency Responses”, SSRN, 19 April 2021: The article explains the significant weaknesses of the U.S. federalist system in controlling major infectious disease threats exposed by COVID-19 pandemic.
Nancy J. Knauer, “The Federal Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic - A Study in Maladministration”, SSRN, 16 March 2021: This article argues that the US federal response was not so much a failure of policy per se, but rather a failure of political will.
Jacek Rothert, “Strategic Inefficiencies and Federal Redistribution during Uncoordinated Response to Pandemic Waves”, SSRN, 2 March 2021: This article proposes a strategic system of taxes and transfers that rewards states which depress their economies more than average to impose effective restrictions.
Alejandro E. Camacho, Robert L. Glicksman, “Structured to Fail: Lessons from the Trump Administration's Faulty Pandemic Planning and Response”, SSRN, 22 January 2021: The article identifies numerous valuable lessons about government organization from the COVID-19 experience that should guide policymakers’ deliberations in the likely event that they embark upon an effort to address the mistakes plaguing the Trump Administration’s dismal response.
Jeffrey Clemens, Benedic. N. Ippolito, Stan Veuger, “US fiscal federalism during the COVID-19 pandemic”, AEI Economic Policy Working Paper Series, No. 2020-16 December 2020: The likely impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on state and local government revenues is increasingly well understood. The condition of state and local government finances depends further, however, on the pandemic’s effects on expenditure needs, which have received less attention. Confusion also remains regarding both the quantity and purpose of federal support that has been and ought to be directed to state and local governments. In this paper, we attempt to have a unified discussion of these issues, with an emphasis on health spending needs and the role of the Medicaid program.
Jean-Paul Renne, Guillaume Roussellet, Gustavo Schwenkler, “Preventing COVID-19 Fatalities: State versus Federal Policies”, SSRN, 27 October 2020: Based on their SIRD epidemiological model and data from the United States, authors demonstrate the benefits of a stronger federal response.
Tara Riggs, Michael Catalano, “(S)He who acts first: gendered gubernatorial response to pandemic in divided government", Binghampton University-SUNY Working Paper Series, September 2020: Authors examine how responses of female governors to COVID-19 differ from their male counterparts.
David Schleicher, “Hands On! Part I: The Trilemma Facing the Federal Government During State and Local Budget Crises”, SSRN, 28 July 2020: This article argues that U.S. federal government does not have a history of “hands off” approaches to state and local defaults even though bailouts have been rare.
Klaus Desmet, Romain Wacziarg, “Understanding Spatial Variation in COVID-19 Across the United States”, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No 27329, June 2020: Authors analyze the correlates of COVID-19 cases and deaths across US counties and they consider a wide range of correlates - population density, public transportation, age structure, nursing home residents, connectedness to source countries, etc. - finding that these variables are important predictors of variation in disease severity.
Bruce McDonald, Christopher Goodman, Megan Hatch, “Tensions in State-Local Intergovernmental Response to Emergencies: The Case of COVID-19”, OSF Preprints, 8 June 2020: Authors examine how the US intergovernmental system of emergency response is designed, how state and local governments have responded to the COVID-19 crisis thus far, and how this crisis has further exposed tensions in the state-local intergovernmental system.
Emily Berman, “The Roles of the State and Federal Government in a Pandemic”, SSRN, 2 June 2020: This essay briefly outlines the respective roles of the state and federal governments and lays out the powers and authorities they each bring to bear in a pandemic situation. It then considers whether the federal response reflected these previously understood roles.
Nancy J. Knauer, “The COVID-19 Pandemic and Federalism”, SSRN, 13 May 2020: Knauer’s essay thoroughly examines the role of federalism in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
Leonardo Baccini, Abel Brodeur, “Explaining Governors' Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic in the United States”, IZA Discussion Paper Series, April 2020: Authors present their findings regarding the determinants of governors’ responses to the pandemic.

Opinions

Nathan Newman, “The Withering Away of the States Can’t Happen Soon Enough”, The Nation, 19 November 2021: The author argues for a different approach to multi-level governance, one that favors local governments.
Mauricio Covarrubias, “The Pandemic and Federalism: Transparency and Accountability to Improve the Response of the Whole Government”, PA Times, 24 October 2021: The author pleads for a more centralized approach to tackle the pandemic.
Donald F: Kettl, “Why Our Devotion to the Public Interest May Not Survive the COVID Wars”, Governing, 17 September 2021: Kettl analyzes the divisive politics against pandemic related measures that some state governors are pursuing.
Richard L. Revesz, “Some governors are mismanaging COVID and misunderstanding Federalism”, The Hill, 27 August 2021: The author claims that actions of governors who embraced policies that would increase the spread of COVID not only in their states but in other states as well betray a fundamental misunderstanding of what federalism means.
Donald F. Kettl, “How American-Style Federalism Is Hazardous to Our Health”, Governing, 26 May 2021: The article argues that federalism as practiced in the United States has been the reason why American suffered more during the crisis.
Donald F. Kettl, “Lessons From the Pandemic for Government Leaders at Every Level”, Government Executive, 12 May 2021: Kettl explains why federalism in the United States had a mixed record in pandemic response.
Frank Pignanelli & LaVarr Webb, “Is massive federal spending destroying the concept of federalism?”, Deseret News, 11 April 2021: The contributors share their insights into the effects of federal spending during crises.
John Tammy, “Be Serious, Federalism Didn't Define the U.S. Response to the Coronavirus”, RealClear Markets, 6 April 2021: The writer claims that the pandemic actually showed how powerful federal government was.
Chandra Bozelko, “Hyperfederalism, science can't easily co-exist”, Empire Tribune, 19 March 2021: The author argues that the federal division of powers disempowers science.
Colin Gordon, “Federalism Is Killing Us”, Dissent, 15 March 2021: Gordon argues that the US federalism is inherently insufficient to effectively respond to a public health crisis.
Alan H. Kennedy, “Federalism and Its Discontents: Guns, Germs and Insurrection”, PA Times, 28 February 2021: In this article, the author presents the evidence of failures of federalism not only in the context of COVID-19, but also in how federal inaction on guns caused jurisdictional externalities and how Electoral College flaws underpinned the insurrection of January 6.
Noah Feldman, “Opinion: Federalism shows its age fighting COVID-19, climate change”, The Virginian Pilot, 26 February 2021: In this op-ed, Feldman argues that the pandemic demonstrated the US federalism is outdated.
Susan Estrich, “Coronavirus response in United States is the new federalism”, Lowell Sun, 1 February 2021: The article argues that federalism adds up to the confusion caused by COVID-19 measures.
William A. Galston, “COVID-19 vaccinations: Why are some states and localities so much more successful?”, Brookings, 25 January 2021: Through a comparison of West Virginia and Maryland, Galston explains the reason for different success rates of vaccination amongst states.
Gerald Benjamin, Scott Minkoff, “Why We Need to Strengthen Federalism from the Bottom Up”, Governing, 21 January 2021: Authors argue that distributed power remains critical in the face of governance crises and federal assaults on liberal democracy.
William A. Galston, “The Blessings (and Curses) of Federalism”, Wall Street Journal, 5 January 2021: Galston explains how federalism might slow down the vaccine rollout.
Ashish K. Jha, “Vaccination is going slowly because nobody is in charge”, The Washington Post, 31 December 2020: Jha argues that the lack of intergovernmental coordination is the reason for the slow vaccine rollout.
Jacob Sullum, “Is Anthony Fauci Right That Federalism Undermined the U.S. Response to COVID-19?”, Reason, 28 December 2020: Sullum argues that centralization is not the right response to the pandemic and that many errors in the US pandemic response occurred on the federal level.
Zack Budryk, “Fauci: Differing state responses a 'major weakness' in fighting coronavirus”, The Hill, 28 December 2020: The article reports Fauci’s remarks on the lack of a federal standardized coronavirus response across states.
Donald F. Kettl, “7 Steps to the Resurgent Federalism Biden Will Need”, Governing, 9 December 2020: Kettl lists seven steps to create an effective intergovernmental cooperation to a shattered crisis.
Donald F. Kettl, “The Big Federalism Challenges Facing a Biden Administration”, Governing, 9 November 2020: Kettl explains five key issues that will determine Biden’s approach to federalism.
Donald F. Kettl, “3 Keys to Getting the Federalism Conversation Going Again”, Governing, 15 October 2020: Kettl argues that the current pandemic showed why the US needs to revive its ability to sort out the roles of the federal government and the states and shows how to achieve that goal.
Ashish Jha, “One Virus, Two Americas”, Foreign Affairs, 22 September 2020: Jha explains how the divergence of state responses reveals the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the U.S. federal system in the midst of the pandemic.
Donald F. Kettl, “A Forum for Federalism That’s Sorely Missed”, Governing, 15 September 2020: Kettl argues that the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations should be brought back to life.
Gregg Girvan, “Reimagining the sharing of government authority in the time of Covid”, Fulcrum, 10 September 2020: The author claims that centralization of power to fight a pandemic may seem appealing but must be resisted.
Donald F. Kettl, “The Federalism Partnership That Is No More”, Governing, 18 August 2020: Kettl sheds light on the disconnect between the federal government and the states.
Michael Ollove, “How Misinformation, Federalism and Selfishness Hampered America’s Virus Response”, PEW Stateline, 18 August 2020: Ollove blames the lack of coordinated response for the USA’s failure to handle the pandemic.
Alan Greenblatt, “America's Governments Are at War with Each Other”, Governing, 24 July 2020: Greenblatt explains how the pandemic has stressed the federalist system to the point of open conflict between different levels of government.
Ross R. Baker, “Donald Trump's laissez-faire federalism is as toxic as Covid-19”, USA Today, 14 July 2020: Baker criticizes Trump’s understanding of federalism because the lack of any coordination for States’ responses.
Maresa Strano, “A Coronavirus Treatment for U.S. Democracy”, Democracy Journal, 10 July 2020: Strano explains three major steps (including strengthening cities within the federal structure) to be taken so that the US survives the crisis.
Kent Syler and John Vile, “The risks and rewards of COVID-19 federalism”, Tennessean, 18 June 2020: Authors explain how COVID-19 highlighted the importance of US federalism and showed the need for cooperation.
Sara Alajbegovic, Maya Bordwell, Madison Frazee, Jonisha Nolan, and Nadia Ozone, “The Pattern of Federalism in the United States: Unchanged by the COVID-19 Pandemic”, A Journal of The Plague Year, 15 May 2020: The essay argues that the federalism is constantly evolving in the United States and that the way the pandemic is handled is the proof of this constant evolution.
Caroline Chang, Scott Moore, and Ali Wyne, “Federalism in the Time of Coronavirus: A Comparative US Advantage”, The Diplomat, 29 May 2020: Authors explain how the US compensated its weak national response with decisive action on state and local level thanks to federalism.
David Marion, “COVID-19 pandemic threatens federalism, human freedom and a dignified existence”, The Washington Times, 11 May 2020: Author explains why federalism remains relevant and necessary to tackle the threats posed by this crisis.
Gary Gerstle, “The New Federalism”, The Atlantic, 6 May 2020: Gerstle discusses the US response to the crisis with a historical approach to US federalism.
Zhu Zhang, “Federalism can't explain America's failure in its response to COVID-19”, CGTN, 4 May 2020: Zhang explains why federalism should not be blamed for the USA’s failure to respond to COVID-19 crisis.
Laurence H. Tribe, “Don’t let coronavirus failures shake your faith in federalism”, Boston Globe, 29 April 2020: Professor Tribe explains why federalism should not be blamed for the ineffectiveness against COVID-19 in the US by giving examples of effective policies of several states.
James G. Hodge, Jr, “Federal vs. State Powers in Rush to Reopen Amid Coronavirus Pandemic”, Just Security, 27 April 2020: Author discusses the tension between states and the federal government and calls for cooperative, collaborative federalism.
Richard Kreitner, “How Would You Like to Live in the Nation of New England?”, The New York Times, 23 April 2020: Kreitner offers regional alliances developed by several states in the US for responding to COVID-19 crisis as an alternative to an outdated US federalism.
Charles C. W. Cooke, “COVID Federalism”, National Review, 16 April 2020: Charles C. W. Cooke praises federalism as a system for a better response to the pandemic in the US.
Jay Cost, “Pandemic proves the wisdom of federalism”, Washington Examiner, 2 April 2020: Cost argues that federalism has been one of the strengths of the government’s response to the coronavirus, not one of its weaknesses.
Walter Olson, “Federalism and the Coronavirus Lockdown”, Wall Street Journal, 30 March 2020: Author argues that the relaxation of the lockdown will depend on state governments.
Noah Feldman, “U.S. Federalism Isn’t Great at Handling Pandemics”, Bloomberg, 19 March 2020: Author argues that a stronger federal government would be preferable to the current division of powers.

News Articles / Article de presse

David A. Lieb, “Biden vaccine rule for health workers blocked in 10 states”, AP News, 29 November 2021: The article reports that a district court judge blocked President Joe Biden’s administration from enforcing a coronavirus vaccine mandate on thousands of health care workers in 10 states that had brought the first legal challenge against the requirement.
Shawna Chen, “Texas AG sues Biden administration over vaccine mandate for contractors”, Axios, 30 October 2021: The filed lawsuit claims that the executive order is "a dramatic infringement upon individual liberties, principles of federalism and separation of powers, and the rule of law.”
Ellen Gerst, “Wyoming joins 10-state lawsuit against federal contractor vaccine mandate”, Casper Star Tribune, 29 October 2021: Gerst reports that Wyoming attorney general Hill joins attorneys general from Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota and South Dakota in the suit, which was originally filed in Missouri.
Darryl Coote, “Arizona AG sues Biden administration over COVID-19 vaccine mandates”, UPI, 15 September 2021: The reporter explains that Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for companies with more than 100 people, calling it unconstitutional and an attack against federalism.
Bob Christie, “Arizona governor blocks cash from schools mandating masks”, AP News, 17 August 2021: Christie reports Arizona governor’s order that bans schools from following CDC recommendations.
Ellen Barry, “‘It’s Totally Ad Hoc’: Why America’s Virus Response Looks Like a Patchwork”, The New York Times, 15 March 2020.

Other Sources / Autres sources

Supreme Court of United States, National Federation of Independent Business v. OSHA, 595 U. S. ____ (2022): SCOTUS delivered its ruling on the vaccine mandate imposed by the Department of Labor.
“Idaho leaders detail legal issues with federal vaccine mandate, threaten Biden with legal action”, Idaho: Office of the Governor, 17 September 2021: Governor Brad Little, Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Winder, and House Speaker Scott Bedke sent this letter to President Joe Biden detailing the flaws with the President’s federal vaccine mandate on private business and threatened legal action if he does not rescind the directive.
“National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness”, White House, 21 January 2021: The report outlines an actionable plan across the federal government to address the COVID-19 pandemic, including twelve initial executive actions issued by President Biden on his first two days in office
Meilee Bridges, “Scholarly Perspectives on COVID-19, Part 5: The Politics of a Pandemic”, Southwestern University Series, 29 September 2020: In this interview with Emily Syndor, Professor Syndor explains how this pandemic changed citizen’s perspective on politics, including their understanding of local governments.

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

Australia & Canada / Australie & Canada : Steven Lewis, “What Canada can learn from Australia’s COVID response”, Policy Options, 10 February 2021: The article briefly explains how Australia’s strong and coordinated response to the pandemic could be a lesson for Canada.
Australia & Canada /Australie & Canada: Stephen Van Dine, “A tale of two federations and their (mis)handling of the pandemic”, iPolitics, 5 February 2021: The article offers another comparison of two federal systems.
France & Allemagne /France & Germany: Vincent Glad, « Covid-19 : le fédéralisme allemand n'est guère plus efficace que le centralisme français », L’Express, 5 février 2021 : L’article compare la France et l’Allemagne pour songer s’il existe un argument à faire pour soutenir le fédéralisme dans la guerre contre COVID-19.
France, Allemagne & Belgique / France, Germany & Belgium: Gérald Papy, « Avantage à l’Etat fédéral », Le Vif, Numéro 19, 7 Mai 2020.
USA, India & EU / États-Unis, Inde & UE: Mihir Sharma, “Coronavirus Is Straining the Concept of Federalism”, Bloomberg News, 02 May 2020: Sharma explains how COVID-19 widen the fault lines existing within these federal systems.
Davide Vampa, “The territorial politics of coronavirus: is this the hour of central government?”, Democratic Audit, 15 April 2020: In this piece, Vamps compares the territorial arrangements of countries facing the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and argues that centralising power in federal systems would be misguided, and instead we should look to examples of successful coordination within multi-level forms of governance.
Argentina, Brazil & Mexico: Agustina Giraudy, Sara Niedzwiecki, and Jennifer Pribble “How Political Science Explains Countries’ Reactions to COVID-19”, Americas Quarterly, 30 April 2020.
Canada & US: James McCarten, “Compared to U.S., Canada's COVID-19 response a case study in political civility”, National Post, 14 April 2020.
Brazil & US / Brésil & États-Unis: Wayne Madsen, “The Pandemic’s Toll on Federalism”, Strategic Culture Foundation, 28 March 2020: The author offers an early day comparison of two states’ pandemic policies.

News Articles / Article de presse

Allemagne, Italie & Espagne /Germany, Italy & Spain: Ludovic Piedtenu, Marie-Hélène Ballestero, Olivier Tosseri, « Covid-19 : comment sont prises les décisions dans les pays décentralisés, comme l'Allemagne, l'Italie ou l'Espagne ? », France Info, 3 mars 2021 : Les auteurs expliquent les procédures de décisions dans ces trois pays décentralisés.
France & Allemagne / France & Germany: Ludovic Piedtenu, « Covid-19 et restrictions : et en Allemagne, comment annonce-t-on les mauvaises nouvelles ? », France Inter, 24 janvier 2021 : L’article co

Allemagne en terme de communications des mesures contre COVID-19.

Fédéralisme et pandémie de COVID-19 - Un compendium de (res)sources

The MacKell Chair team is collecting sources on the intersection between federalism-writ-large and COVID-19.

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

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

2. Podcasts / videos / conferencesBalados / vidéos / conférences

Canada

Argentina / Argentine

Australia / Australie

Austria / Autriche

Belgium / Belgique

Ethiopia / Éthiopie

European Union / Union Europeénne

Germany / Allemagne

India / Inde

Mexico / Mexique

Nigeria / Niger

Switzerland / Suisse

United Kingdom / Royaume Uni

United States / États-Unis

Comparing Federations / Fédérations comparées

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

4. Articles on specific federationsArticles portant sur des fédérations spécifiques

Canada

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

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

Research Papers & Reports / Documents de recherche & Rapports

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

Working Papers / Documents de travail

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

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

Research Papers & Reports / Documents de recherche & Rapports

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

Working Papers / Documents de travail

Opinions

News Articles / Article de presse

Other Sources / Autre sources

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

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

China / Chine

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

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

Opinions

Working Papers / Documents de travail

Colombia / Colombie

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

European Union / Union européenne

Academic Journal Articles / Articles de revues académiques

Research Papers & Reports / Documents de recherche et rapports

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

Working Papers / Documents de travail

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

Research Papers & Reports / Documents de recherche & Rapports

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

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

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

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

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