Can Facebook really be a tool for supporting citizen engagement during emergencies?

The present study explores how Italian regions and their presidents employed Facebook during the Covid-19 pandemic to encourage citizen engagement. To do so, it adopts quantitative methodologies. Our results show that most public actors increased their levels of social activity during the pandemic but mainly for promoting public communication and that citizens much prefer interacting with presidents. Moreover, citizen engagement was higher when posts were published during nonbusiness hours or weekends, while it decreased when posts contained photos or videos.     

What drives compliance with COVID-19 measures over time? Explaining changing impacts with Goal Framing Theory

The COVID-19 pandemic provides a unique opportunity to study which factors drive compliance and how the evolving context in society –virus fluctuations and changing government measures – changes the impact of these factors. Extant literature lists many factors that drive compliance – notably enforcement, trust, legitimacy. Most of these studies, however, do not look across time: whether a changing context for citizens changes the impact of factors driving compliance. In this study, we use Lindenberg's Goal Framing Theory to explain the dynamics of these drivers of compliance during the COVID-19 pandemic. We formulate hypotheses for pro-socialness, trust in government, observed respect for rules, rule effectiveness, rule appropriateness, fear of COVID-19 (severity and proximity), opportunities for pleasure and happiness, as well as worsened income position. We test our hypotheses with data collected at three different moments during the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis in Flanders, Belgium. Findings show that over time the constellations of factors that drive compliance change and, later in the pandemic, more distinct groups of citizens with different motivations to comply are identified. The overall conclusion is that the voluntary basis for compliance becomes more fragile over time, with a more differentiated pattern of drivers of compliance emerging. Public policy and communication need to adapt to these changes over time and address different groups of citizens.     

因势利导:化解非传统安全困境的东盟路径

非传统安全困境存在吗?这种安全困境为何产生?以东盟为中心的东亚区域合作能否将其化解?既往研究通常一分为二地看待国家在传统安全与非传统安全议题中的行为逻辑,用安全困境的理论解释前者,安全化与和合主义等概念描述后者,认为后者更易导向国际合作。新冠肺炎疫情是一次非传统安全危机,然而世界各国却在应对过程中合作乏力、对立加深,这是一种非传统安全困境,各国政策和行为意图的不确定性是其主要原因。冷战后,以东盟为中心的区域合作架构在非传统安全议题上因势利导,增强各国对安全威胁的共同认识,依托既有地区合作机制凝聚共同利益,形成了增强政策和行为意图确定性的“威胁—利益”转化机制,在一定程度上化解了这种非传统安全困境。2020年4月,为应对疫情而召开的“10+3”特别峰会即为例证。东盟国家与中日韩三国对安全利益的共识虽有待增强,但对安全威胁的预估已趋于一致,是化解当下全球性非传统安全困境的一个地区性积极表征。     

The Worst Is Not over Yet: The Lives and Deaths of the ‘Self’ and ‘Others’ in Brazil's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

This paper focuses on the politics of life and death in Bolsonaro's Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is argued that while this administration, and the president himself, have long supported violence against individuals and social groups they did not see as fully human, their response to the pandemic marked a public transition from valuing certain kinds of lives as opposed to others, to a general contempt for human lives. The paper explores this transition by discussing the reification of the economy to the detriment of the people who produce and consume.     

Challenges of working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic for women in the UAE

This study explored the experiences of working from home among women in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the lockdown. Adopting the interpretative philosophical approach, this study conducts semi-structured interviews with sixteen (16) randomly selected women actively employed in different sectors in the UAE economy. The analysis was carried out using the thematic analysis to derive the themes and sub-themes emerging from the coded data. The research finds that most of the challenges are associated with spillover from work, affecting family time, and invading personal space. The research concluded that women working remotely faced issues linked to glitches, malfunctions, and knowledge deficiencies. The third most identified challenge to working from home was the distractions that come with the conscious attempt to divide attention between work and family, trying to stop one from interfering with the other. However, the research observed some notable advantages including workplace flexibility and control, as well as the opportunity to work from the comfort of the home. The findings also revealed the mixed feelings to continue working from home and its impact on the career progression of women in the UAE.     

SARSCOV-19 amidst corruption: Does the civil society matter? – An empirical study

The pandemic outbreak has dealt consequences on global engagements and structures. With the ongoing search for pandemic-mitigating measures and the excesses (notably corruption) erupted in its wake, concerns have been raised about the decline in public trust, transparency and satisfaction – particularly in Ghana. This situation has spurred multilevel governance discussions regarding pandemic management. Ensuingly characterising policy makers' propositions in this regard is the civil society's salience as a control valve to governance deficits like corruption. Therefore, transcending the anecdotal claims on civil society's efficacy, this study takes a state-society perspective to probe its relevance in fostering trust, transparency and satisfaction, relative to corruption-stricken pandemic governance. The current study engages the general systems theory as a conceptual lens. The structural equation modelling technique was used in analysing data (n = 519) gathered through the questionnaire survey approach. Though results of data analysis affirmed the negative effects of corruption on trust, transparency and satisfaction, the civil society received affirmation as an enhancer of trust, transparency and satisfaction. In view of these study findings, implications and future research suggestions are delimited.     

新冠肺炎疫情防控中的“志愿者+社区社会组织”模式服务效力及其反思

在新冠肺炎疫情期间,社区的“志愿者+社区社会组织”实务模式在防控疫情蔓延、平缓居民心态、链接生活物资等方面发挥了重要作用。从志愿者参与途径看,“志愿者+社区社会组织”服务实践主要体现为价值取向中的个体主动、从众压力下的群体驱动、基于科层权威的单位组织、社区自治组织发动的“网格+志愿服务”、注重多元主体协同的混合五种具体模式,并在防疫工作中发挥了各自效力。该实务模式尚存志愿者和社区社会组织工作人员的定位分化、志愿服务风险系数高、志愿者疫情防控能力不足等突出问题。为推进志愿服务参与社区社会组织的疫情防控效率,须明晰组织与志愿者之间的合作基础,实施志愿服务的成本收益分析,筛选合适的志愿服务模式,总结疫情防控的基本经验,推动志愿服务的制度化建设。     

风险社会下农村重大疫情防控策略及其治理逻辑——基于河南省H村新冠肺炎疫情的防控分析

新冠肺炎疫情是时空压缩的现代化中社会风险的突发呈现,具有强传播性、不确定性等特点,这增加了防控和治理难度。农村社会为化解疫情防控资源不足和设施薄弱等问题,实现了由常规治理向运动式治理的快速切换,通过集中资源、快速决策、硬核管控、群众参与等方式,建立起“低成本、高效率”的治理体系,实现了疫情的高效防控。农村高质量的防控源于治理模式的转换,也得益于村庄日常性合作文化的培育、组织载体的建设和群众路线的坚守,这对基层治理能力的提升、乡村振兴的实践及国家应急管理体系的完善都具有重要借鉴意义。     

To take care of those on the front line against Covid-19: Is it possible to limit medical liability?

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important not to forget, when the emergency is controlled or even over, that those who today are defined in all Countries as “heroes” could in the future be called to answer for alleged damage from professional liability. It is necessary to be prepared, both as health professionals and from a legal and governmental point of view, for a surge of professional liability claims which, with high probability, will begin to emerge in the coming months.