Study on Pandemic in the Local, PIL
What are the substantial matters and local factors that are decisive when municipalities opt to activate their crisis management council? This study, financed by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, MSB examines the questions of if and how Swedish municipalities has used the possibility of activating their crisis management council as a consequence of the Corona-pandemic. When, how, why and for how long does municipalities activate their council, what decisions are made by the council and how does the decision making process work?
The importance of the local level for preparedness and management is critical when it comes to structures and processes for key decisions for societal resilience. In-depth knowledge of how these structures and processes work, are affected and change during an ongoing crisis is lacking.
Aim and method
The aim of the PIL-study is to gain knowledge on the importance of institutional flexibility in governance for local resilience. The questions of if and how Swedish municipalities use the legal option of activating their crisis management council as a consequence by the Corona-pandemic is examined. Trough information gathering and mapping as well as interviews in six municipalities the study will seek to answer when, how, why and for how long crisis management councils are activated, which substantial matters and local factors that correlate to the activation, what decisions are made by the council and how the decision making process works.
Knowledge generated in the study has a theoretical value as well as a clear societal use in that it can be used to develop municipal crisis management.
Study in a larger collaboration on societal resilience
This study falls within the frames of the research program "Resilience in Sweden: Governing, Social Networks and Learning", a five-year research collaboration between the Risk and Crisis Research Centre (RCR) at the Mid Sweden University and the Centre for Societal Risk Research at Karlstad University.
Read more
- Press statement on the project from RCR at Mid Sweden University: "Ny studie undersöker hur kommunerna arbetat under Coronakrisen" [in Swedish]
- Press statement on the project from CSR at Karlstad University: "Ny studie undersöker hur kommuner använder sin krisledningsnämnd under Coronapandemin" [in Swedish]
- More information about the research collaboration "Resilience in Sweden: Governing, Social Networks and Learning".