Scientific article
OA Policy
English

Justifying mobility restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic: a test in multilevel governance

Published inWest European politics, p. 1-26
Publication date2023-04-25
First online date2023-04-25
Abstract

In public health crisis governance, effective communication has been shown to move people from awareness to compliance. This article examines the effectiveness of the communication strategy developed by stakeholders in the European multi-level governance during the COVID-19 pandemic. An original dataset of over 40,000 tweets from 65 actors in Switzerland, France, the UK, the EU and the UN is used to measure the timeliness, consistency and connectivity of tweets about mobility restrictions in the first phase of the pandemic. Analysis shows that the discourse surrounding mobility restrictions gradually becomes more politicised after an initial phase of high consistency and connectivity among actors. Additionally, low inter-level connectivity suggests a lack of coordination across governance levels, despite a strong consistency in the message. The study concludes that this pattern of communication could worsen the rising infodemic issue.

Keywords
  • Covid-19
  • Europe
  • Multilevel governance
  • Mobility restrictions
  • Discourse network analysis
Citation (ISO format)
BELANGER, Marie-Eve, LAVENEX, Sandra. Justifying mobility restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic: a test in multilevel governance. In: West European politics, 2023, p. 1–26. doi: 10.1080/01402382.2023.2197330
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Article (Published version)
accessLevelPublic
Identifiers
Journal ISSN0140-2382
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Technical informations

Creation25/04/2023 14:30:17
First validation26/04/2023 16:02:08
Update time06/12/2024 15:49:10
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