2024 SPRING SEMINAR SERIES Seminar: Patrik Nordin University of Vaasa

From Agile to Adaptive Emergent Governance Responses to Global Health Crises: A Case of Two Different Pandemics

Abstract

Global health crises challenge the capacity of local, national, and international institutions to respond effectively and coordinate their efforts. Infectious diseases spread rapidly across borders, outpacing the ability of individual countries to contain them (Christensen et al., 2016). Consequently, responses must often balance national sovereignty and jurisdiction with global frameworks and guidelines (Comfort et al., 2020).

During global health crises governance often means navigating uncharted territory with limited data and rapidly changing conditions. Therefore, policymakers must often rely on advice from experts in various fields, such as epidemiology, public health, public policy, and economics (Correia and Willis, 2021). This necessitates a shift in thinking towards more integrated and adaptive governance models as well as recognizing synergistic interactions among different diseases and other health and socio-economic conditions.

This presentation provides a novel insight into the study of global health governance (GHG) by introducing the concept of emergent governance (EG) to recognize the necessity of diverse governance approaches to effectively address various health crises.

Applying the conceptualization of EG to distinguish intuitive policymaking in the form of agility and planned policy framing in the form of adaptability in the face of institutional resilience (Janssen and van der Voort, 2016), the focus is on global health crises where effective crisis management demands a range of responses and mechanisms.

EG is applied here to two global health crises, COVID-19 and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) that will be used as focal points to analyze the nuances in the application of EG to GHG to understand different response mechanisms. While the response to the COVID-19 pandemic epitomized the need for unparalleled agility, addressing the latent and creeping AMR demands building capabilities for structural adaptability.