Explanation of policies in the UK
Explanation of policies in the US
Here we argue that among democracies increasing redundancy in policy authority creates the mechanism of ‘policy rescue’ in the likely event of a policy error by the national leadership.
We compare the US and the UK in the crucial period of late January-March of 2020, when the spread of COVID-19 was still possible initially to contain, and later to substantially reduce.
Both nations’ leaders adopted similarly dismissive stances during the initial phase of the pandemic, yet while Johnson’s position closely corresponded with his country’s policies, Trump’s views coexisted with a significant strong COVID policy response from sub-national authorities and public agencies.
