Policy learning and change during crisis: COVID-19 policy responses across six states

Whereas policy change is often characterized as a gradual and incremental process, effective crisis response necessitates that organizations adapt to evolving problems in near real time. Nowhere is this dynamic more evident than in the case of COVID-19, which forced subnational governments to constantly adjust and recalibrate public health and disease mitigation measures in the face of changing patterns of viral transmission and the emergence of new information. This study assesses (a) the extent to which subnational policies changed over the course of the pandemic; (b) whether these changes are emblematic of policy learning; and (c) the drivers of these changes, namely changing political and public health conditions. Using a novel dataset analyzing each policy's content, including its timing of enactment, substantive focus, stringency, and similar variables, results indicate the pandemic response varied significantly across states. The states examined were responsive to both changing public health and political conditions. This study identifies patterns of preemptive policy learning, which denotes learning in anticipation of an emerging hazard. In doing so, the study provides important insights into the dynamics of policy learning and change during disaster.     

Freedom and Sovereignty a Fatal Relationship Outlined with Jean-Luc Nancy and Marquis De Sade

Sovereignty and freedom are interlinked in a manner of both ambivalence and interdependence. Neither can sovereignty confirm itself without presupposing for itself a pure state of freedom; nor can freedom conceive and realise itself without interweaving with sovereignty. Both concepts collide with each other as sovereignty usually signifies a certain social or cultural power or order; and freedom regularly is related to a sovereign subjectivity. Therefore, the question is: how far might sovereignty serve as a source of freedom that, at the same time, has to be limited by this freedom itself. When the sovereign (subject) defines where the limits of freedom are, he will mostly define the limits of experiencing such freedom for all those who have to follow his decision on the limit. Further, if the free (sovereign) subject itself defines its own limits, it will supposedly end up rejecting its interweaving with any other subjectivity beyond its own. The problem remains: both sovereignty and freedom cannot be realised if they are already limited.     

Instituciones electorales,derecho a la información y medios de comunicación durante las campañas presidenciales de 2012

This paper assesses the performance of Mexican electoral authorities during the 2012 presidential campaigns concerning citizens’ right of information. By means of a theoretical review of the concepts of freedom of speech and right of information a case is made for the necessary complementarity and interdependence of both concepts. The paper explores the approach that electoral authorities adopted on three different spheres, namely, the “suggested guidelines” that were submitted to radio and television agencies for the coverage of electoral campaigns; the monitoring of campaigns coverage by radio and TV news broadcasts; and the organization and promotion of electoral debates among Mexico’s presidential candidates. This review reveals a considerable clash between theory and the ife’s and tepjf’s practices. The paper closes with some general remarks on freedom of speech and the role of electoral bodies in Mexican politics, as well as with a proposal of various reforms that could reinforce freedom of speech and the right of information in the coming electoral campaigns.     

Legitimación en las acciones colectivas

This paper analyses the standing in collective actions to enforce undefined and collective interests as well as homogeneous individual interests, according to the Brazilian legal doctrine and legislation. He treats the types of class actions, the standing to bring a suit and the adequate representation in the Latin American countries that have developed these matters: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay. Of Argentinean Law, the author examines the collective amparo contained in article 43 of the National Constitutional, and the environmental and consumer’s procedures. Of Brazilian Law, the author studies the actions to enforce undefined and collective interests and homogeneous individual interests, contained in the 1990 Consumer’s Defense Code. The Brazilian Law guidelines have influenced the Model Code of Collective Procedures for Iberoamerica and the Chilean and Mexican Laws. In Colombia the collective interests are enforced by popular actions, and the equivalent to the homogeneous individual interests are defended through group actions.     

Voting for Movement Parties in Southern Europe: The Role of Protest and Digital Information

In recent years ‘movement parties’ such as Syriza in Greece, the Movimento 5 Stelle in Italy, Podemos in Spain and—to a lesser extent—Bloco de Esquerda in Portugal shook national party systems, breaking the consolidated dynamics of political competition. Despite growing interest in movement parties, there has been scant attention to the role of citizens adopting unconventional forms of action and using digital media in accounting for their electoral performance. To fill this gap, four original internet-based post-electoral surveys are employed showing that protesters and digital media users are more likely to vote for these parties, despite important country differences.     

Functioning strategies of the research groups' leaders in the context of funding and policy instabilities☆

We explore the strategies implemented by Research Groups' Leaders while coping with unstable contexts, characterized by incoherence and lack of coordination among different policy discourses and instruments, and scarce resources. We focus on a country where these conditions are present: Colombia. In doing so, we study two cases, one in nanotechnology and another one in biomedical engineering. Interviews, focus groups and workshops allowed us to identify and validate strategies grouped in four popular sayings, proper to local idiosyncrasy, highlighting the role of home institutions and principal investigators in facing such situations with resilience and resourcefulness, and even taking advantage of them. We find that Research Groups' Leaders use strategies such as: adapting, balancing agendas and funding sources, networking, and taking advantage of the support programs available at their home institution to continue functioning. These are setting the ground for a further survey which could pretend some generalization. However, policymakers could consider these findings when defining policy instruments or for assessing their effectiveness or impacts.