Global crisis governance in response to scientific information

Comparing and understanding regulatory responses from WHO and IPCC concerning the COVID-19 and climate crises

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl.1856

Keywords:

application of systems theory to empirical situations, climate change, determinants of communication, governance responses, health crisis

Abstract

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.

 

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Author Biographies

Karin Buhmann, University of Southern Denmark/Copenhagen Business School (CBS)

Full Professor of Business & Human Rights, Copenhagen Business School (CBS)

Full Professor and Research Centre Director of the Centre for Law, Sustainability and Justice, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, DK-5280 Odense, Denmark. Email: karbu@sam.sdu.dk

Full Professor of Business & Human Rights, Copenhagen Business School. Department of Management, Society and Communication, Dalgas Have 15.2, Copenhagen Business School (CBS), DK-2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark. Email: kbu.msc@cbs.dk

Jingjing Wu, University of Southern Denmark

Postdoc researcher, Centre for Law, Sustainability, and Justice, Department of Law, University of Southern Denmark. Address: Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense, Denmark. Email: jwu@sam.sdu.dk

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Published

01-10-2024

How to Cite

Buhmann, K. and Wu, J. (2024) “Global crisis governance in response to scientific information: Comparing and understanding regulatory responses from WHO and IPCC concerning the COVID-19 and climate crises”, Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 14(5), pp. 1384–1408. doi: 10.35295/osls.iisl.1856.

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