Coordinating against the coronavirus? A configurational analysis of the determinants of policy coordination in multi-level states’ response to the pandemic

This paper examines the determinants of policy coordination deployed in multi-level states’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper first presents the outcome under investigation- three categories of policy coordination (share-rule coordination, hierarchical coordination, and non-coordination)- and maps out using an original data-set their occurrence across 13 OECD countries over 4 time-periods in 2020. The second part presents a theoretical framework that examines how levels of coordination were shaped by functional pressures of the pandemic and mediated by institutional and party-political factors. This framework is then verified using fuzzy-set qualitative-comparative analysis (QCA). The results shed light on the interaction of conditions that explain why multi-level states responded so differently to the external shock of the pandemic. The results bears theoretical implications for the public choice and Ostromian perspectives on the study of collective responses to common problems. It also bears implication for the empirical study of how multi-level states respond to other multi-faced crises including those provoked by migration and climate-related disasters.