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Varieties of Crises: Comparing the Politics of COVID-19 and Climate Change

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  • Hamish van der Ven
  • Yixian Sun

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is the largest public health crisis in recent history. Many states have taken unprecedented action in responding to the pandemic by restricting international and domestic travel, limiting economic activity, and passing massive social welfare bills. This begs the question, why have states taken extreme measures for COVID-19 but not the climate crisis? By comparing state responses to COVID-19 with those to the climate crisis, we identify the crisis characteristics that drive quick and far-reaching reactions to some global crises but not others. We inductively develop a conceptual framework that identifies eight crisis characteristics with observable variation between COVID-19 and climate change. This framework draws attention to under-considered areas of variance, such as the perceived differences in the universality of impacts, the legibility of policy responses, and the different sites of expertise for both crises. We use this structured comparison to identify areas of leverage for obtaining quicker and broader climate action.

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  • Hamish van der Ven & Yixian Sun, 2021. "Varieties of Crises: Comparing the Politics of COVID-19 and Climate Change," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 21(1), pages 13-22, Winter.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:glenvp:v:21:y:2021:i:1:p:13-22
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Graeme Auld & Steven Bernstein & Benjamin Cashore & Kelly Levin, 2021. "Managing pandemics as super wicked problems: lessons from, and for, COVID-19 and the climate crisis," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 54(4), pages 707-728, December.
    2. Bukalska Elżbieta & Skibińska-Fabrowska Ilona, 2023. "Corporate Investment in Bank-Dependent Companies in Crisis Time," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 10(57), pages 1-22, January.
    3. Karina Bedrunka & Ireneusz Dąbrowski, 2022. "Recommendations for changes in the methodology of public EU funds allocation in the context of economic crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic," Bank i Kredyt, Narodowy Bank Polski, vol. 53(6), pages 605-624.
    4. Linda A. Selvey & Morris Carpenter & Mattea Lazarou & Katherine Cullerton, 2022. "Communicating about Energy Policy in a Resource-Rich Jurisdiction during the Climate Crisis: Lessons from the People of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-12, April.

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