Policy narratives, localisation, and public justification: responses to COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Globally, infection and death rates from COVID-19 vary dramatically. While states had broadly the same information about the virus at the start of the crisis, responses were very different. What caused such disparity in policy actions and outcomes? While various factors may account for divergent responses, we highlight the importance of narratives employed by key policy actors. First, we review the literature on policy narratives. We suggest it can be usefully augmented with consideration of localisation and public justification. We apply this augmented framework using case studies of Germany and the United Kingdom. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s narrative was more successful at persuading German citizens to embrace government policies to counter COVID-19 than was Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s in the United Kingdom. This difference held important implications for policy outcomes in each country. We conclude by discussing the benefits of this augmented approach to analysis of policy narratives.

KEYWORDS:

• Political leadership
• narrative policy framework
• crisis management
• COVID-19
• Germany politics
• British politics

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge Ruby O’Connor’s research assistance in gathering empirical evidence on the Germany and UK cases and contributing to the content analysis of speeches. We also thank the special issue editors, Allan McConnell and Alastair Stark, for their encouragement and guidance throughout development of this article. Matteo Bonotti and Steven T. Zech's contribution was supported in part by the grant ‘Civic Virtue in Public Life: Understanding and Countering Incivility in Liberal Democracies’, funded as part of the Self, Virtue and Public Life Project, a three-year research initiative based at the Institute for the Study of Human Flourishing at the University of Oklahoma, funded with generous support from the Templeton Religion Trust.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Table 1 presents the relevant statistics on which these countries can be compared, given our interests.

2 deutschland.de. ‘The timeline regarding coronavirus in Germany’. deutschland.de, April 1, 2020. Available: https://www.deutschland.de/en/the-timeline-corona-virus-germany

3 Reuters - The Berlin Spectator. ‘Germany: The Beginning of a Possible Coronavirus Epidemic’. teleSUR/ mco-MS, February 26, 2020. Available: https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/germany-at-the-beginning-of-a-coronavirus-epidemic--20200226-0008.html.

4 deutschland.de. ‘The timeline regarding coronavirus in Germany’. deutschland.de, April 1, 2020. Available: https://www.deutschland.de/en/the-timeline-corona-virus-germany.

5 BBC. ‘Coronavirus: Germany latest country to close borders’. BBC, March 16, 2020. Available: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51905129.

6 Worldometer. ‘Total Coronavirus Cases in Germany (Table)’. Worldometer, latest update September 17 2020. Available: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/germany/

7 Authors’ calculations. See Table 1 for details.

8 Worldometer. ‘Total Coronavirus Cases in the United Kingdom’. Worldometer, latest update September 17, 2020. Available: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus//country/uk/.

9 Authors’ calculations. See Table 1 for details.

10 Source: For Merkel: Share of German adults saying Merkel is doing a good or bad job. Off an already high base, ‘Good’ has been consistently above 80% for Merkel in 2020. Source: https://www.statista.com/chart/23144/merkel-opinion-polls-since-2005/ (2) For Johnson: YouGov. Responses to question: Do you think that Boris Johnson is doing well or badly as Prime Minister? ‘Well’ percentage remained above 40% from March 2020 through to the end of July 2020. See: https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/boris-johnson-approval-rating?period=1yr

11 ‘Percentage of people who think the government is handling the issue of coronavirus “very” or “somewhat” well.’ Source: https://yougov.co.uk/topics/international/articles-reports/2020/03/17/perception-government-handling-covid-19.

12 Source: https://today.yougov.com/topics/international/articles-reports/2020/03/17/personal-measures-taken-avoid-covid-19.

13 Merkel, A. ‘An address to the nation by Federal Chancellor Merkel’ (in English). The Press and Information Office of the Federal Government, March 19, 2020. Available: https://www.bundeskanzlerin.de/bkin-en/news/statement-chancellor-1732302 (emphasis on ‘THEIR’ in the original).

14 Mason, R. ‘Boris Johnson boasted of shaking hands on day Sage warned not to’. The Guardian, May 5 2020. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/05/boris-johnson-boasted-of-shaking-hands-on-day-sage-warned-not-to

15 Johnson, B. ‘Prime Minister's statement on coronavirus (COVID-19): 23 March 2020’. Crown Copyright, March 23,20020. Available: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-address-to-the-nation-on-coronavirus-23-march-2020.

16 Johnson, B. ‘PM statement in Downing Street: 27 April 2020’. Crown Copyright, 27 April, 2020. Available: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-statement-in-downing-street-27-april-2020.

17 Johnson, B. ‘Prime Minister's statement on coronavirus (COVID-19): 28 May 2020.’ Crown Copyright, May 28, 2020. Available: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-press-conference-statement-on-the-five-tests-28-may-2020.

18 Merkel, A. ‘Government statement by the Federal Chancellor: “Let’s not squander what we have achieved”’. The Press and Information Office of the Federal Government, April 23 2020. Available: https://www.bundeskanzlerin.de/bkin-en/news/regierungserklaerung-merkel-1746838.

19 Ibid.

20 See Dominic Sandbrook (2020) ‘Boris Johnson is wrong to make a jibe at Margaret Thatcher. Her spirit is bringing out the best in us’. The Daily Mail, March 31, 2020. Available: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8169711/DOMINIC-SANDBROOK-Boris-Johnson-wrong-make-jibe-Margaret-Thatcher.html.

21 Bennet, D. ‘Margaret Thatcher Dies at 87’. The Atlantic, April 8, 2020. Available: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/04/margaret-thatcher-dead/316529/.

22 Cameron, D. ‘PM's speech on Big Society’. Crown Copyright, February 15, 2011. Available: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pms-speech-on-big-society.

23 Saunders, R. ‘“There is such a thing as society”. Has Boris Johnson repudiated Thatcherism?’. New Statesmen, March 31, 2020. Available: https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2020/03/boris-johnson-thatcher-society-no-such-thing-policies.

24 Christodoulou, H. ‘Rallying Call: ‘There really IS such a thing as society’ Boris Johnson contradicts Thatcher and tells Brits ‘we will do this together’. The Sun, March 29, 2020. Available: ttps://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11282550/boris-johnson-self-isolation-video-coronavirus/

25 Johnson, B. ‘Prime Minister's statement on coronavirus (COVID-19): 10 May 2020.’ Crown Copyright, May 10, 2020. Available: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-address-to-the-nation-on-coronavirus-10-may-2020.

26 Miller, S. ‘The Secret to Germany’s COVID-19 Success: Angela Merkel Is a Scientist’. The Atlantic, April 20, 2020. Available: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/04/angela-merkel-germany-coronavirus-pandemic/610225/.

27 Saunders, R. ‘“There is such a thing as society”.

28 The Guardian. ‘Angela Merkel uses science background in coronavirus explainer (video)’. YouTube, April 16 2020. Available; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22SQVZ4CeXA&feature=emb_title.

29 Merkel, A. ‘An address to the nation by Federal Chancellor Merkel’ (in English). The Press and Information Office of the Federal Government, March 19, 2020. Available: https://www.bundeskanzlerin.de/bkin-en/news/statement-chancellor-1732302

30 Johnson, B. ‘Prime Minister's statement on coronavirus (COVID-19): 10 May 2020’. Crown Copyright, May 10, 2020. Available: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-address-to-the-nation-on-coronavirus-10-may-2020.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael Mintrom

Michael Mintrom is a Professor of Public Policy at Monash University, where he serves as Director of Better Governance and Policy, a university-wide research initiative. His recent books include Policy Entrepreneurs and Dynamic Change (Cambridge 2019) and Public Policy: Investing for a Better World (Oxford 2019).

Maria Rost Rublee

Maria Rost Rublee is an Associate Professor in International Relations at Monash University. Her research focuses on the social construction of international security, with an emphasis on norms, social psychology, and diversity. Her recent publications explore current crises in the nuclear nonproliferation regime and gendered experiences in security studies.

Matteo Bonotti

Matteo Bonotti is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Monash University. His work focuses on contemporary political theory, especially political liberalism and public reason, democratic theory and political parties, linguistic justice, free speech, and food justice. His recent books include Partisanship and Political Liberalism in Diverse Societies (Oxford 2017) and Recovering Civility during COVID-19 (Palgrave Macmillan 2021, with Steven T. Zech).

Steven T. Zech

Steven T. Zech is a Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Monash University. His research focuses on contentious politics, with an emphasis on narratives, militia groups, and how communities respond to political violence. He is author of Recovering Civility during COVID-19 (Palgrave Macmillan 2021, with Matteo Bonotti).