Health, Complexity and Governance : The case of the COVID-19 pandemic

Geyer, Robert and Harrison, Neil E. (2021) Health, Complexity and Governance : The case of the COVID-19 pandemic. In: Governing Complexity in the 21st Century :. Routledge, London, pp. 88-103. ISBN 9780367276263

Abstract

This chapter begins the transition towards a more applied approach in the book. It starts by briefly noting the affinity between complexity and health and well-being and the significant growth in complexity inspired health policy research. It then turns to an examination of the Chinese, European Union and USA governments responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following this, it applies a complexity perspective to evaluate and compare the responses noting the importance of initial conditions, chance and localism as well as the problematic nature of learning from others, the long term future of the pandemic and the fundamentally interconnected nature of the pandemic and our socio-economic systems.