Critical juncture, learning and state capacity-in-motion

Pathway cases in Asia

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12677181
AutoresA Sinha (0000-0002-7767-7322, Claremont McKenna College, autor de correspondencia)
Año2023
Volumen61
Número4
Páginas399-426
Fecha de publicación2023-10-02
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCommonwealth and Comparative Politics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1466-2043 • E-ISSN: 1743-9094
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14662043.2023.2281739
OpenAlexW4389410553
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas52

Precisely because public health crises are uncertain, complex and have multiple dimensions, deeper institutional state capacity is needed. This article develops an approach to thinking about state capacity by incorporating time as a key component of a refurbished idea of state capacity. This reorientation helps us understand the specific mechanisms, especially of learning – that were crucial for the success of East Asian cases in managing the COVID-19 epidemic. Previous exposure to a health crisis – a critical juncture – activates learning capacity via two distinct mechanisms, one a political route of that restores public trust and renews the social contract, and the second through a functional route leading to administrative capacity building necessitated by a complex and multiplex crisis that crosses a variety of boundaries. Learning that builds coordinating state capacity is therefore needed. This article applies these ideas to understanding the successful pathway cases of South Korea and Taiwan.KEYWORDS: COVID-19public healthtimestate capacityEast Asia AcknowledgementsThe author thanks Justin Shen, Jason Yasukochi and Aina Yukawa, CMC students, for research assistance. The Keck Institute of International Studies at Claremont McKenna College (USA) provided valuable funding and assistance for this research. I am grateful to the two referees for their incisive comments, which greatly improved the article. Andrew Wyatt's guidance and encouragement was valuable and facilitative.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 There is debate about what mechanism-based analysis helps us understand; see Waldner (Citation2016) and Saylor (Citation20Citation20).2 Further details of the database are given here: https://about.proquest.com/en/products-services/globalnewsstream/3 The facts below are drawn from a newspaper timeline constructed by the author with the help of research assistants.4 Jay Y. Lee, the heir to the Samsung group's patriarch apologized for the mistakes at the Samsung medical center: 'Our Samsung Medical Center was unable to stop the MERS infection and its spread, and caused too much suffering and concern to the public. I bow my head in apology' (Park & Lee, Citation2015). Also, see, Sang-Hun (Citation2015).5 There is a large literature on state capacity: Acemoglu et al. (Citation2015); Ross (Citation2006); Hanson (Citation2015), (Geddes, Citation1994), and Rondinelli, Cheema and Fox (Citation2011). For analysis of policy capacity, see: Burkle (Citation2006), Hartley and Jarvis (Citation2020) and Rubin (Citation2020).6 Select classic writings are: Steinmo et al. (Citation1992) and Pierson (Citation2004). Critical juncture is analysed in: Capoccia (Citation2015) and Hogan (Citation2019), which does a good survey of other articles on the topic. Also, see Yoshimatsu (Citation2014) for the idea that critical junctures can generate institution building in the realm of foreign policy.7 Pepinsky observed: 'COVID-19 was a multiscale governance problem requiring coordination across different tasks and social spheres' (Talk, Cornell University, September 17, 2020)

Accountability · Juncture · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Sociology · State (computer science · Variety (cybernetics · Computer Science · Employment and Welfare Studies · Engineering · Healthcare Systems and Reforms · Law · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Artificial Intelligence