Review by Choice Review
This book provides a comparative analysis of how health systems worldwide responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, offering a high quality example of rigorous hypothesis testing in political science research. The editors offer an exceptionally well-researched volume on an urgent public policy issue, considering non-pharmaceutical interventions such as social distancing and test-trace-isolate support. Early use of such systems allowed Vietnam and New Zealand to successfully manage the pandemic. The book covers a wide range of countries from Asia to Europe, the Americas, and Africa, including chapters on the EU, Central Asia, and the World Health Organization. All country studies focus on three core variables: public health and social policy measures, why the government made certain decisions, and policy recommendations. The major finding is that social policy is decisive for the effectiveness of pandemic response. Authoritarian regimes were not more effective than democratic regimes, and having a strong public health establishment did not contribute to effective response when sidelined and manipulated by government (US, UK). Some "majoritarian" regimes (US, UK) were ineffective, whereas others (Australia, Canada) effectively managed COVID-19. The conclusion distinguishes between countries that reacted swiftly with strong health and social policies (Vietnam, South Korea) and those that made wrong policy decisions--embracing "denialism"--leading to surging case numbers (Brazil, India). Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. --Mario E. Carranza, Texas A&M University--Kingsville
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
