Global Crisis Governance in Response to Scientific Information: Comparing and Understanding Regulatory Responses from the WHO and IPCC Concerning the Covid-19 and Climate Crises

Abstract

This article explores determinants of effective communication for crisis responses across functional subsystems at diverse public organisation levels. That is done by analyzing WHO and IPCC statements on Covid-19 and climate change, and governmental responses, drawing on Denmark as a pilot case. A functional subsystem is constituted by binary codes, embodying the sub-system's key logic. Subsystems respond to information triggering their logics. The analysis shows that with an emphasis on effective governance and the delivery of health care, the WHO was effective in generating governmental action on Covid-19. By contrast, the IPCC's extensive deployment of the true/false logic of science is less effective for activating governmental response. Addressing public governance and relevance of Luhmann's systems theory, our findings suggest that decision-makers can be prompted into action through deployment of arguments that connect to governments' logic. This finding holds potential for improving communication between scientific and governance agencies for crisis responses.

Keywords: application of systems theory to empirical situations, climate change, determinants of communication, governance responses, health crisis