State or Civil Society – What Matters in Fighting COVID-19? A Comparative Analysis of Hong Kong and Singapore

Figures & data

Table 1. PNT actors and policy capacity: political support, analysis and actions

	Policy capacities
State-society actors	Political (seeking political support)	Analytical (formulating solutions)	Operational (actions and implementation)
Bureaucrats	meritocracy and autonomy	technical expertise	bureaucratic rules and professional advice (e.g., information dissemination to society)
Citizens	social capital, rights and freedoms	public deliberation and community/local knowledge	public participation and collective action (e.g., voting and strike)
Politicians	political authority and legitimacy	political representation and accountability	official and legal power (e.g., border closure and social gathering restrictions)

Source: Authors.

Table 2. Key institutions under PNT in Hong Kong and Singapore: politics, bureaucracy and civil society

	Hong Kong	Singapore
Politics	Executive-led government with strong formal power but weak leadership and limited accountability Legitimacy crisis and clash with society in social movements	Strong political leadership with electoral accountability Under challenge by the growing opposition and a rising civil society
Bureaucracy	Weakening and increasingly ineffective Weberian bureaucracy due to politicisation Decoupling with the politicians and growing tension	Strong and effective Weberian bureaucracy Balanced and stable relationship with politicians and the state
Civil Society	Active and autonomous civil society From state-society separation to state-society confrontation	A rising but obstructed civil society

Source: Cheung (2008) and Authors.

Table 3. Policy responses: stringency and public health measures in Hong Kong and Singapore in 2020

Containment and closure	Hong Kong	Singapore
C1. School Closing	Yes	Yes
C2. Workplace Closing	Limited	Yes
C3. Cancel Public Events	Yes	Yes
C4. Restrictions on Gathering Size	Yes	Yes
C5. Close Public Transport	No	No
C6. Stay at Home Requirements	No (voluntary action)	Yes (Circuit Breaker)
C7. Restrictions on Internal Movement	No (voluntary action)	Yes (Circuit Breaker)
C8. Restrictions on International Travel (i.e., border closure)	Yes	Yes
Health systems
H1. Public Information Campaign	Yes (also done by civil society)	Yes
H2. Testing Policy	Extensive	Extensive
H3. Contact Tracing	Low (low level of adoption by citizens)	High (high level of technology application by GovTech)
H4. Emergency Investment in Healthcare	Limited	Yes
H5. Investment in COVID-19 Vaccines	Limited	Yes
Others
Wearing Masks in Public Places	Done by Civil Society (no law until mid-July 2020)	Limited at the early stage (until COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act passed in April 2020)
High Risk Facilities Closure and Restricted Hours and Quarantine	Yes	Yes
Highest Score of Stringency Index (out of 100)	71	85

Source: Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) (Hale et al. 2020) and Authors.

Figure 1. Daily cases in Hong Kong.

Source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus

Figure 2. Daily cases in Singapore.

Source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus

Cheung, A. B. L., 2008, The story of two administrative states: State capacity in Hong Kong and Singapore. The Pacific Review, 21(2), 121–145. doi:10.1080/09512740801990188

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Hale, T., Angrist, N., Kira, B., Petherick, A., Phillips, T. and Webster, S., 2020, Variation in government responses to COVID-19. Blavatnik School of Government Working Paper, Oxford University. Available at www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/covidtracker

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