When do decision makers listen (less) to experts? The Swiss government's implementation of scientific advice during the Covid‐19 crisis

Bibliographic Data

ID6329692
AuthorsSteven Eichenberger (0000-0002-8231-8412, Département de Science Politique et des Relations Internationales (SPERI) Université de Genève Genève Switzerland), Frédéric Varone (0000-0002-5620-3291, Département de Science Politique et des Relations Internationales (SPERI) Université de Genève Genève Switzerland), Pascal Sciarini (0000-0003-0782-7652, Département de Science Politique et des Relations Internationales (SPERI) Université de Genève Genève Switzerland), Robin Stähli (0009-0000-8565-000X, Département de Science Politique et des Relations Internationales (SPERI) Université de Genève Genève Switzerland), Jessica Proulx (0000-0002-5452-0461, Département de Science Politique et des Relations Internationales (SPERI) Université de Genève Genève Switzerland)
Year2023
Volume51
Issue3
Pages587-605
Publication date2023-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolicy Studies Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0190-292X • E-ISSN: 1541-0072
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/psj.12494
OpenAlexW4318474749
LanguageEN
Citations received25
References cited29

Under which conditions do politicians listen to scientific experts in a crisis? This study addresses this question by assessing how the Swiss government implemented 186 policy recommendations formulated by the National COVID‐19 Science Task Force (STF) to combat the spread of the virus and alleviate its impact on the health system, society and economy during the first year of the pandemic. Results of multiple regression analyses show that the impact of problem pressure on the propensity of the government to implement experts' recommendations varies over time: it was considerably larger during spring 2020 than afterwards. We argue that this reflects a change in status of the STF during the second phase of the pandemic: it was distanced from the political‐strategic level of the crisis management organization and its epistemic authority was increasingly questioned by political parties and interest groups. Policy scholars should thus give more attention to how rapidly the government's propensity to rely on expert advice can change

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Advice (programming · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Crisis management · Government (linguistics · Pandemic · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 · Computer Science · Law · Medicine · Policy Transfer and Learning · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies