How useful is the concept of polycrisis? Lessons from the Development of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit during the COVID-19 pandemic
The empirical basis for the concept of polycrisis has only been articulated at a high level of abstraction, typically dealing with global issues like climate change or migration. Because of that, its relevance and utility at the domestic level vis-à-vis adding value to existing studies of crisis man...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2024-10-01
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| Series: | Policy Design and Practice |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/25741292.2024.2316409 |
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| author | Shannon Dinan Daniel Béland Michael Howlett |
| author_facet | Shannon Dinan Daniel Béland Michael Howlett |
| author_sort | Shannon Dinan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The empirical basis for the concept of polycrisis has only been articulated at a high level of abstraction, typically dealing with global issues like climate change or migration. Because of that, its relevance and utility at the domestic level vis-à-vis adding value to existing studies of crisis management are unclear. As a set of events lasting over two years involving a pandemic with multiple simultaneous and interconnected economic and public health implications, the COVID-19 pandemic provides both scholars and practitioners with a rare opportunity to look in more detail into how domestic policy design actually occurred during this global event. In this article, we investigate the creation of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) program during the COVID-19 crisis. The CERB case illustrates the importance of three factors that together form a trifecta of best practices for national-level policy design in a crisis—policy integration, learning, and agility—and shows how these elements evade capture by the polycrisis concept, thereby limiting its usefulness. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-eaad7b4f6a00460383705e347f9d7e9a |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2574-1292 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-10-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Policy Design and Practice |
| spelling | doaj-art-eaad7b4f6a00460383705e347f9d7e9a2025-08-20T02:19:27ZengTaylor & Francis GroupPolicy Design and Practice2574-12922024-10-017443044110.1080/25741292.2024.2316409How useful is the concept of polycrisis? Lessons from the Development of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit during the COVID-19 pandemicShannon Dinan0Daniel Béland1Michael Howlett2Political Science, Universite Laval, CanadaPolitical Science, McGill University, CanadaPolitical Science, Simon Fraser University, CanadaThe empirical basis for the concept of polycrisis has only been articulated at a high level of abstraction, typically dealing with global issues like climate change or migration. Because of that, its relevance and utility at the domestic level vis-à-vis adding value to existing studies of crisis management are unclear. As a set of events lasting over two years involving a pandemic with multiple simultaneous and interconnected economic and public health implications, the COVID-19 pandemic provides both scholars and practitioners with a rare opportunity to look in more detail into how domestic policy design actually occurred during this global event. In this article, we investigate the creation of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) program during the COVID-19 crisis. The CERB case illustrates the importance of three factors that together form a trifecta of best practices for national-level policy design in a crisis—policy integration, learning, and agility—and shows how these elements evade capture by the polycrisis concept, thereby limiting its usefulness.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/25741292.2024.2316409Policy designpolycrisisemergency policymakingCanada |
| spellingShingle | Shannon Dinan Daniel Béland Michael Howlett How useful is the concept of polycrisis? Lessons from the Development of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit during the COVID-19 pandemic Policy Design and Practice Policy design polycrisis emergency policymaking Canada |
| title | How useful is the concept of polycrisis? Lessons from the Development of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full | How useful is the concept of polycrisis? Lessons from the Development of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_fullStr | How useful is the concept of polycrisis? Lessons from the Development of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | How useful is the concept of polycrisis? Lessons from the Development of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_short | How useful is the concept of polycrisis? Lessons from the Development of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_sort | how useful is the concept of polycrisis lessons from the development of the canada emergency response benefit during the covid 19 pandemic |
| topic | Policy design polycrisis emergency policymaking Canada |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/25741292.2024.2316409 |
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