Understanding COVID-19: Governance, Leadership and Organizations

The GSI team, The Australian National University

As the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have continued to generate unprecedented levels of risk and uncertainty around the world, we have provided a list of resources explaining what the situation reveals about the capabilities of Nations and other Institutions to respond to crises below.

The consequences of poor leadership and the role of international cooperation:

• Joseph Nye, the pandemic as a crisis in global leadership: https://tinyurl.com/yb4j5owy

• The lack of international cooperation as a core component of the crisis (The Council on Foreign Relations): https://tinyurl.com/yaljow7f

Democracy vs Authoritarianism :

• How differences in systems of governance shape national crisis response: https://tinyurl.com/ybj8ndyl

• Military thought, terminology and war-like rhetoric as a part of the pandemic response: https://tinyurl.com/y8ephn63

• Francis Fukuyama, the major dividing line in effective crisis response is not the system of governance but faith in institutions: https://tinyurl.com/ruqx524

Technology and information:

• The risks of the employment of information technology and public surveillance (Brookings Institution): https://tinyurl.com/yawlyclv

• The need for more robust digital infrastructure to improve national resilience (RAND Corporation): https://tinyurl.com/yaszl9vb

The basics of crisis and risk management

• How organizations can use data to manage unprecedented risks or “black swans” (MIT Sloan): https://tinyurl.com/ycxs8gdj

• An review of conventional “Frequentist” vs Bayesian risk management approaches (MIT Sloan): https://tinyurl.com/y7uh3tll

This one of three in a series of guides exploring the implications of the pandemic on a number of key security and risk issues.