Global crisis governance in response to scientific information

This article explores determinants of effective communication for crisis responses across functional sub-systems at diverse public organisation levels. That is done by analysing WHO and IPCC statements on COVID-19 and climate change, and governmental responses, drawing on Denmark as a pilot case. A...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Karin Buhmann, Jingjing Wu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law 2024-10-01
Series:Oñati Socio-Legal Series
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Online Access:https://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/view/1856
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Summary:This article explores determinants of effective communication for crisis responses across functional sub-systems at diverse public organisation levels. That is done by analysing WHO and IPCC statements on COVID-19 and climate change, and governmental responses, drawing on Denmark as a pilot case. A functional sub-system is constituted by binary codes, embodying the sub-system’s key logic. Sub-systems respond to information triggering their logics. The analysis shows that with an emphasis on effective governance and the delivery of health care, the WHO was effective in generating governmental action on COVID-19. By contrast, the IPCC’s extensive deployment of the true/false logic of science is less effective for activating governmental response. Addressing public governance and relevance of Luhmann’s systems theory, our findings suggest that decision-makers can be prompted into action through deployment of arguments that connect to governments’ logic. This finding holds potential for improving communication between scientific and governance agencies for crisis responses.  
ISSN:2079-5971