IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/soasur/v28y2021i1p133-156.html

Understanding the Causes of Variance in Provincial Response to COVID-19 in Pakistan by Using the Policy Capacity Framework

Author

Listed:
  • Huma Siddiqi

Abstract

This comparative research looked at the causes of the variance in provincial response to COVID-19 in Pakistan using the policy capacity framework. Pakistan decentralised its policymaking in 2010 and granted autonomy to its provinces to mitigate the crisis, control law and order, generate resources and reform their institutions. There were serious concerns that the small provinces lacking the required policy competencies will not be able to deal with a crisis such as COVID-19. Using process tracing and inductive mixed methods, this research finds that the relationship with the centre, effective networking with international agencies, non-state actors and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are the key factors that improved the policy competency of the small provinces, whereas the weak steering ability of the state machinery, complacent and negligent behaviour of the political and administrative institutions and tension with the centre adversely impacted the analytical, operational and political competencies of the two large provinces of Punjab and Sindh, resulting in the spread of COVID-19 cases in these provinces.

Suggested Citation

  • Huma Siddiqi, 2021. "Understanding the Causes of Variance in Provincial Response to COVID-19 in Pakistan by Using the Policy Capacity Framework," South Asian Survey, , vol. 28(1), pages 133-156, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:soasur:v:28:y:2021:i:1:p:133-156
    DOI: 10.1177/0971523121997729
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0971523121997729
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0971523121997729?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Knill, Christoph, 1999. "Explaining Cross-National Variance in Administrative Reform: Autonomous versus Instrumental Bureaucracies," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 113-139, May.
    2. Naresh Kumar & Ritu Rani, 2019. "Regional Disparities in Social Development: Evidence from States and Union Territories of India," South Asian Survey, , vol. 26(1), pages 1-27, March.
    3. Francis Fukuyama, 2013. "What Is Governance?," Working Papers 314, Center for Global Development.
    4. repec:wbk:wboper:33478 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Abbas, Hafiz Waqar & Khalid, Neelum & Anjum, Razia & Nawaz, Rashed & Zhou, Zhongliang & Gong, Shaoqing, 2025. "Exploring the critical risk factors in COVID-19 vaccination clinics aimed uncertainty: Insight from Pakistan," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    2. Fredrick Oteng Agyeman & Malcom Frimpong Dapaah & Agyemang Kwasi Sampene & Abdul Razak Monto & Emmanuel Adu Gyamfi Kedjanyi, 2023. "Economic Contagion and the Repercussion on Remittances: Evidence from Low and Middle-Income Economies," South Asian Survey, , vol. 30(1), pages 7-31, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alejandro Rodriguez, 2019. "Defining Governance in Latin America," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 5-19, March.
    2. Busby, Joshua & Smith, Todd G. & Krishnan, Nisha & Wight, Charles & Vallejo-Gutierrez, Santiago, 2018. "In harm's way: Climate security vulnerability in Asia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 88-118.
    3. Allred, Shorna & Stedman, Richard & Heady, Laura & Strong, Karen, 2021. "Incorporating biodiversity in municipal land-use planning: An assessment of technical assistance, policy capacity, and conservation outcomes in New York’s Hudson Valley," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    4. Tobin Im & Kris Hartley, 2019. "Aligning Needs and Capacities to Boost Government Competitiveness," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 119-137, March.
    5. Miquel Salvador & David Sancho, 2021. "The Role of Local Government in the Drive for Sustainable Development Public Policies. An Analytical Framework Based on Institutional Capacities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-17, May.
    6. Ilia Murtazashvili & Jennifer Murtazashvili, 2015. "Anarchy, self-governance, and legal titling," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 287-305, March.
    7. Deepta Chopra, 2015. "Political commitment in India’s social policy implementation: Shaping the performance of MGNREGA," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-050-15, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    8. Sezard Timbi & Mohammadou Nourou & Zedou Abdala, 2024. "Governance Mediates the Effect of Remittances on Financial Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 2874-2894, March.
    9. repec:osf:socarx:fbu27_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Giyoh G. Nginyu & Dobdinga C. Fonchamnyo & Boniface N. Epo & Simplice A. Asongu, 2023. "The effects of institutional quality and biocapacity on inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 23/044, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    11. Mukim,Megha & Zhu,Tingting Juni, 2015. "Empowering cities : good for growth ? evidence from China," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7193, The World Bank.
    12. Ratka ÄŒolić & Ä orÄ‘e Milić & Jasna Petrić & NataÅ¡a ÄŒolić, 2022. "Institutional capacity development within the national urban policy formation process – Participants’ views," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 40(1), pages 69-89, February.
    13. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2021. "Income Levels, Governance and Inclusive Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(1), pages 71-103, February.
    14. Neha Arora & Naresh Kumar, 2026. "Extent of Financial Inclusion in Haryana: A District-level Analysis," Vision, , vol. 30(2), pages 244-259, April.
    15. Guo, Jingyuan & Deng, Kent, 2024. "Laying off old guards to rebuild state capacity: Deng Xiaoping’s bloodless coup d’etat in post-Mao China, 1980-2000," Economic History Working Papers 126083, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    16. Matata Ponyo Mapon & Jean-Paul K. Tsasa, 2019. "The artefact of the Natural Resources Curse," Papers 1911.09681, arXiv.org.
    17. Matt Andrews, 2014. "An Ends-Means Approach to Looking at Governance," CID Working Papers 281, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    18. Skarbek, David, 2016. "Covenants without the Sword? Comparing Prison Self-Governance Globally," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 110(4), pages 845-862, November.
    19. Zorzeta Bakaki, 2020. "The Joint Effect of International and Domestic-Level State Capacity on Civil War Risk," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-14, May.
    20. Andrews, Matt, 2014. "An Ends-Means Approach to Looking at Governance," Working Paper Series rwp14-022, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    21. Suhartono Suhartono & Roy Valiant Salomo & Umanto Eko Prasetyo, 2022. "The Alignment Challenges of Development Planning and Budgeting: Insights from Indonesia," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 34(1), pages 54-83, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:soasur:v:28:y:2021:i:1:p:133-156. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.