Global Citizens' Evaluation of Government Policies Regarding COVID-19
1. Background
As COVID-19 spreads quickly and covertly, agile responses and decision-making are crucial for further preventing the disease in a society. During the crisis, some countries have been pointed to be an exemplar for fighting against COVID-19 pandemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) has mentioned South Korea as a model country to act against the epidemic. Meanwhile, the neighboring country, Japan, was unable to maneuver this emergency as fast as possible and was harshly criticized for its handling of a mass outbreak on the Diamond Princess cruise ship. Also, Taiwan was expected to be one of the most affected regions considering the geographic proximity with mainland China; yet, the virus did not seriously impact on people's daily lives. Therefore, Taiwan Model to combat the pandemic was known to the world.
A government's effective administrative ability is of significance since it closely related to the people's everyday lives. Through the COVID-19 experience, countries which have damaged a lot should learn and adopt a good paragon of prevention measures.
2. Purpose
This section is to analyze people's perception on government's achievements, specifically, which country was highly recognized as a shrewd state to prevent community spread, and which one was least appreciated by global citizens.
3. Questionnaire used
The first questions we used to analyze individual's reliability on information released by the government was "How much do you trust the information offered by a central government?" There is a 4-point scale, with higher scores demonstrating 'strongly distrust', while lower scores meaning highly believe the central government.
Secondly, we assessed the question below to discover how global citizens recognize their own government's crisis management: "Compared to other countries, how would you evaluate the overall performance of your government in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic?" The answers consist of a 5-point scale, with higher scores reflecting worse appraisal of its own government, and with lower scores indicating higher recognition of the government's policies.
Lastly, we scrutinized people's perceptions regarding other governments' achievements during the pandemic. The question we chose was "Please evaluate how competent the government of the following countries is in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic?" 28 countreis were provided to be assessed, including Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, USA, Canada, England, Germany, France, Austria, Spain, Italy, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, India, and Indonesia. 6 numbers were offered to choose, with lower numbers indicating more competent a government, and the 6th means unknown.
4. Major Outcomes
▲ Figure 1: Global citizens' reliability on information regarding COVID-19 released by itw own government
▲ Figure 2-1: Global citizens' evaluation of its own government's countermeasure on COVID-19
▲ Figure 2-2: Northeast Asian citizens' evaluation of its own government
▲ Figure 2-3: European citizens' evaluation of its own government
▲ Figure 2-4: Southeast Asian/South Asia/Southern European/Latin American citizens' evaluation of its own government
▲ Figure 3-1: New York citizens' evaluation of other governments' COVID-19 policies
▲ Figure 3-2: London citizens' evaluation of other governments' COVID-19 policies
▲ Figure 3-3: Rome citizens' evaluation of other governments' COVID-19 policies
▲ Figure 3-4: Sao Paulo citizens' evaluation of other governments' COVID-19 policies
▲ Figure 3-5: Paris citizens' evaluation of other governments' COVID-19 policies
▲ Figure 3-6: Tokyo citizens' evaluation of other governments' COVID-19 policies
▲ Figure 3-7: Singaporeans' evaluation of other governments' COVID-19 policies
▲ Figure 3-8: Taipei citizens' evaluation of other governments' COVID-19 policie
▲ Figure 3-9: Hong Kong citizens' evaluation of other governments' COVID-19 policie
5. Further Tasks
This was nationals' subjective perceptions regarding the government's reliability and competency. However, more objective assessment on a state's democratic policies and measurements is needed to further evaluate the validity of a country's crisis management.
Moreover, detailed questions should be followed to clearly understand the results shown in the survey. For example, but not limited to :
Why most of the Asian people think highly of Taiwan, while large number of Western citizens recognize South Korea as a good model?
