Centralised or multi-level: which governance systems are having a ‘good’ pandemic?

Using Switzerland and England’s responses to COVID-19, Jen Gaskell and Gerry Stoker explain how decentralised capacity, combined with a constructive relationship at different levels of governance, may result in a more effective strategy during a crisis

Covid-19 has revealed our governance system lacks capacity, but will we do anything about it?

COVID-19 has revealed that UK governance is not just prone to the occasional disaster, it is fundamentally flawed. Gerry Stoker, Will Jennings, and Jen Gaskell outline some of these failings and argue that the pandemic should be followed by a public inquiry into the system

Working Paper 2-3: Articles addressing current topics related to the EU from a whole of society perspective

This Working Paper 2-3 is a compilation of several short articles published as part of the project “Whole-of-Society Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding”, which aims to enhance the EU’s peacebuilding and conflict prevention capabilities. They are written by various experts involved in this project. The purpose of the WOSCAP working paper series is to highlight and discuss key topics and concepts relevant to the EU’s peacebuilding and conflict prevention agenda. More information can be found at www.woscap.eu

Lack of trust and social media echo chambers predict COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy

As COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out across the world, there are growing concerns about the role that trust, belief in conspiracy theories and spread of misinformation through social media impact vaccine hesitancy. We use a nationally representative survey of 1,476 adults in the UK between December 12 to 18, 2020 and five focus groups conducted in the same period. Trust is a core predictor, with distrust in vaccines in general and mistrust in government raising vaccine hesitancy. Trust in health institutions and experts and perceived personal threat are vital, with focus groups revealing that COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is driven by a misunderstanding of herd immunity as providing protection, fear of rapid vaccine development and side effects, belief the virus is man- made and related to population control. Particularly those who obtain information from relatively unregulated social media sources such as YouTube that have recommendations tailored by watch history are less likely to be willing to become vaccinated. Those who hold general conspiratorial beliefs are less willing to be vaccinated. Since an increasing number of individuals use social media for gathering health information, interventions require action from governments, health officials and social media companies. More attention needs to help people understand their own risks, unpack complex concepts and fill knowledge voids