What question did this study set out to answer?

This research aims to explore how incident management systems adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic in various countries.

March 1, 2026Open Access

Stability or instability in crisis policymaking? From the emergency management perspective to the robustness perspective

Key Points

This research aims to explore how incident management systems adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic in various countries.
Examined incident management systems in Denmark, Italy, and Spain.
Analyzed adaptations of emergency responses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Identified processes of innovation and operational challenges faced by managers.
Incident management systems experienced adaptive instability, mixing bottom-up and top-down approaches.
Emergency managers utilized practical knowledge to guide adaptations amid the absence of strict plans.
Substantial innovations were observed in response to operational challenges during the pandemic.

Abstract

This paper examines how incident management systems (IMS) were adapted during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to enable rapid and effective emergency responses, focusing on three processes of adaptation in Denmark, Italy and Spain. In all three cases, the IMS underwent substantial innovations and adaptations to address operational challenges. Neither did the IMS remain bottom-up, nor did they fully re-centralize. Instead, they underwent adaptive instability, mixing bottom-up and top-down in response to contingencies. Emergency managers relied on practical knowledge and feedback loops to guide changes in the absence of prescriptive plans.

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Cite This Study

Ravazzi et al. (Wed,) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/69a3d8caec16d51705d2ff8a https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18786503

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