Authors: Maria Rammata

Title: Lessons learned from the impact assessment of COVID-19 on public administration

Abstract

The Covid-19 crisis is a unique challenge that transcends national borders of many countries. Its immediate life-threatening effects for certain patients and its contagiousness left no time for executives to reflect upon the measures that would be efficient enough to tame the issue. Conventional tools such as the Parliamentary working, the consultation period, etc. cannot be of great assistance and immediate, flexible forms of management, such as governmental committees and task forces of experts and other stakeholders, are instead recommended, so as to determine in a “sense making approach” a viable provisional solution. Administrations need to acquaint themselves with experimentation and “trial-and-error”, to combine the “regulation” and the “execution”, to “adopt” and “adapt” to new conditions with a new mindset. The conventional institutionally-centered governmental working retreats and adopts the some of the following methodologies: - Early monitoring, anticipation and containment of crisis (at some level)- Networking - Managing partnerships and creating valuable connections with players that contribute to the design and the implementation of the crisis management plan, - Participative rulemaking and putting the society first that ought to know the progress of the crisis and its handling by the competent authorities, -Dual command (from experts and the political power) - Conciliation mechanisms and capacity to overcome conflicts of interest, - Horizontal inter-sectorial cooperation in a “whole of a government” approach and a blurred jurisdictional framework, - Cultural adjustments and counterbalanced measures to treat the negative societal repercussions (e.g. social distancing, canceling of recreational activities, unemployment of those affected, etc.). A “small-wins” approach is of great assistance as it is a step-by-step methodology in which administrations gain knowledge and capitalize on what works and what does not for handling the situation. This new working methodology in unchartered waters challenges the conventional governmental working and takes power from the stable institutional framework, transferring it to more flexible forms of governance. The Covid-19 crisis surpasses the characteristics of the conventional wicked problems (such as poverty, drugs, climate change, etc.) and is integrated into the larger category of meta-wicked problems that have more aggressive and immediate repercussions and that demand professional and immediate action. The ill-defined modern crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic calls for a flexible, resilient and soft governance where scientific, technical experts, think-tanks and other organizations come to the fore and attempt to propose vital provisional solutions. Leadership and political responsibility are of great importance in dealing with Covid-19, proving the necessity to dispose of mature democracies in times of crisis.