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

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6329692
AutoresSteven 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)
Año2023
Volumen51
Número3
Páginas587-605
Fecha de publicación2023-08-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPolicy Studies Journal (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0190-292X • E-ISSN: 1541-0072
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/psj.12494
OpenAlexW4318474749
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas25
Referencias citadas29

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