This chapter explores the structural similarities and differences between these
three countries: on the one hand, in their respective health sectors’ capacities and
reorganization;
and on the other hand, in the different
degrees of state capacity to
respond to the pressing needs of their populations. In the last great
epidemic, the
1918 flu, there
was a transparent north-south
gradient in the extent to which European
countries were
hit by the pandemic, with Portugal, Spain, and Italy among
those
that were
hit the hardest (Ansart et al., 2009). How was it this time? To what
extent does the impact of COVID-19 reflect resilient societal and institutional vulnerabilities
in these
countries? And to what extent have national specificities interacted
with those
shared vulnerabilities, leading to different
outcomes?info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
