Connecting efficiency and responsiveness in China: public sentiments and stakeholder perspectives towards COVID-19 crisis governance.

Publication date: Aug 09, 2024

The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic initiated debates on how crisis management affects democracy. In them, the balance between deploying control strategies that limit citizens’ freedom and their democratic legitimation features prominently. Informed by theoretical debates about responsive crisis governance, this paper explores how Chinese citizens reacted by quantitatively and qualitatively analysing social media expressions and Chinese stakeholders’ narratives. The quantitative analysis indicated that public sentiments towards pandemic control were complex and mostly related to the severe pandemic in Wuhan. Negative sentiments were mainly directed at local states; national states largely received respect. The qualitative analysis exhibited more nuances. Although Chinese crisis governance raised efficiency and trust, aggressive accountability efforts and improper information exchange caused justice deficits and public anxiety. Draconian social control misaligned public interests and a lack of specific partnership mechanisms frustrated social participation. Reconciling institutional efficiency with civic liberties on diverse governance levels is thus expected to increase the responsiveness of pandemic control to public demands.

Concepts Keywords
China COVID‐19 (coronavirus disease 2019)
Coronavirus efficiency
Democratic governance
Pandemic responsiveness
trust

Semantics

Type Source Name
disease VO efficiency
disease MESH COVID-19
drug DRUGBANK Isoxaflutole
disease VO LACK

Original Article

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