Orlaith Rice
The Swedish government’s strategy for addressing the Covid-19 pandemic sparked international debate about its hands off approach. Orlaith Rice points to Sweden’s institutional framework and high trust levels as two key components in understanding this country's unique pandemic response Read more
Rongxin Li
China has adopted a zero-case approach to the coronacrisis. But, writes Rongxin Li, China’s policies, while claiming to be in the interests of its citizens, show a lack of democratic anchoring, sacrificing civil rights and procedural justice Read more
Balázs Böcskei
Balázs Böcskei and Eszter Farkas analyse the influence of partisan alignment on public health issues related to coronavirus. Their findings suggest that even in such a highly polarised country as Hungary, the significance of the pandemic over time is suppressing the influence of party alignment on Covid-related issues Read more
Despina Alexiadou
Using a test case of social welfare policy, Despina Alexiadou argues that if we want to understand the policy choices of different governments, we should start by analysing the social class composition of its ministers Read more
Daphne Halikiopoulou
Economic insecurity creates favourable conditions for far-right parties, who turn discontent into political advantage. Welfare state policies, argue Daphne Halikiopoulou and Tim Vlandas, must therefore focus on moderating these risks, and reducing the likelihood of insecure people voting far right Read more
Julian Garritzmann
Public opinion affects policy-making when the topic is salient and when most people share the same opinion, write Julian Garritzmann, Marius Busemeyer and Erik Niemanns. Yet when the public disagrees on what they want – or when many people don’t care – the influence of public opinion is significantly reduced Read more
Lynda Gilby
Lynda Gilby explains how and why, against expectations, it is New Zealand’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic that has proved to be one of (if not the) most successful in the world Read more
Francesco Saverio Montesano
An increasing number of scholars want to campaign for positive change outside the academic echo chamber, but overlook their own evidence when they refuse to engage with any view not exclusively based on science. Francesco S. Montesano argues that this will only deepen the gap between ‘experts’ and the rest of society Read more
