Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

8-2020

Abstract

This study explores the processes of intercrisis and intracrisis learning and the link between them, drawing on South Korea’s responses to the COVID-19 pandemic as an example. The crisis management literature suggests that intracrisis learning is less likely to occur than intercrisis learning due to inherent barriers that hinder learning and adaptation in the heat of crisis. Based on the conceptual framework of problem-oriented governance and crisis learning, we unpack how prominent outcomes of intercrisis learning facilitate intracrisis learning during the acute phase of an emerging crisis. We postulate that learning after 2015 MERS crisis developed the core capabilities for problem-oriented governance which, in turn, have facilitated learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also posit that these capabilities continue to be enhanced through ongoing intracrisis learning processes. Our findings indicate that, in South Korea, such capabilities— reflective-improvement capability, collaborative capability, and data-analytic capability—have been substantially developed after 2015 MERS crisis and are getting more sophisticated as a result of on-going intracrisis learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Theorical and practical implications for crisis learning are discussed.

Keywords

COVID-19, Intercrisis learning, Intracrisis learning, Problem-oriented governance, South Korea

Discipline

Asian Studies | Emergency and Disaster Management | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Public Health

Research Areas

Political Science

Publication

Korean Journal of Policy Studies

Volume

35

Issue

3

First Page

95

Last Page

118

ISSN

1225-5017

Publisher

Seoul National University, Graduate School of Public Administration

Embargo Period

7-5-2021

Copyright Owner and License

Publisher

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