Liberté, Égalité, Crédibilité: An experimental study of citizens' perceptions of government responses to COVID‐19 in eight countries

Liberté, Égalité, Crédibilité: An experimental study of citizens' perceptions of government responses to COVID‐19 in eight countries

During a global pandemic, individual views of government can be linked to citizens' trust and cooperation with government and their propensity to resist state policies or to take action that influences the course of a pandemic. This article explores citizens' assessments of government resp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Public administration review Vol. 83; no. 2; pp. 401 - 418
Main Authors: Amirkhanyan, Anna A., Meier, Kenneth J., Song, Miyeon, Roberts, Fei W., Park, Joohyung, Vogel, Dominik, Bellé, Nicola, Molina, Angel Luis, Guul, Thorbjørn Sejr
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Hoboken, USA Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-03-2023
American Society for Public Administration
Subjects:
Citizens
Civil liberties
Cooperation
COVID-19
Freedoms
Government
Inequality
Information
International cooperation
Pandemics
Respondents
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Summary:During a global pandemic, individual views of government can be linked to citizens' trust and cooperation with government and their propensity to resist state policies or to take action that influences the course of a pandemic. This article explores citizens' assessments of government responses to COVID‐19 as a function of policy substance (restrictions on civil liberties), information about performance, and socioeconomic inequity in outcomes. We conducted a survey experiment and analyzed data on over 7000 respondents from eight democratic countries. We find that across countries, citizens are less favorable toward COVID‐19 policies that are more restrictive of civil liberties. Additionally, citizens' views of government performance are significantly influenced by objective performance information from reputable sources and information on the disproportionate impacts of COVID‐19 on low‐income groups. This study reinforces the importance of policy design and outcomes and the consideration of multiple public values in the implementation of public policies.
Bibliography:Funding information
American University School of Public Affairs
Liberty, equality, credibility: Liberté, Égalité, Crédibilité (in French).
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
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Funding information American University School of Public Affairs
ISSN:0033-3352
1540-6210
DOI:10.1111/puar.13588