Managing the COVID-19 pandemic in varied frameworks of trust, transparency, and governance capacity: evidence from China, the UK, Hong Kong, and Taiwan

Dionysios Stivas () and Alistair Cole
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Dionysios Stivas: Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University
Alistair Cole: Sciences-Po

Asia Europe Journal, 2025, vol. 23, issue 1, No 4, 98 pages

Abstract: Abstract By illuminating the mode of health crisis management in the four distinct jurisdictions of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the UK, this article considers how varying trust-transparency mixes provide a context for understanding the public governance of the COVID-19 pandemic. The article builds on publicly available surveys, governmental documents, and observations of the assessed administrations’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study covers the period between January 2020 and April 2022. We conclude that though trust is an important element for controlling the virus, transparency is the precondition for a longer-term resilient and sustainable policy response. Trust-transparency mixes matter because they feed through into governance capacity. While transparency is the prerequisite for a longer-term robust and sustainable policy response, trust is essential for managing the virus in the short term. Governance capacity needs to be understood as a contingent, context-specific quality, in the sense of a legitimate steering mechanism.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s10308-025-00719-2

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