New Working Paper in the IDEAGOV Working Paper Series

The latest addition to the IDEAGOV Working Paper Series explores how the COVID-19 pandemic shaped electoral behaviour and political accountability across different systems of government. The paper, entitled “Who's in Charge? Understanding Rallying and Accountability in the COVID-19 Pandemic”, is authored by Ignacio Lago (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) and Santiago Lago-Peñas (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela).

The paper investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced electoral behaviour and political accountability across different systems of government. Specifically, it examines whether voters attributed responsibility for managing the crisis primarily to national governments or to regional authorities, and how these perceptions affected electoral outcomes.

The results show that the political effects of the pandemic were largely national in scope and driven by the number of COVID-19 casualties rather than by the strictness of government containment measures. The evidence points to a rally-around-the-flag effect benefiting national incumbent parties in unitary countries, where central governments held primary responsibility for public health policies and crisis management.

By contrast, the study finds no comparable effect in federal and confederal countries, where health policy responsibilities are shared between national and regional governments. According to the authors, decentralization changes how citizens assign political responsibility during crises, thereby shaping electoral responses.

The paper contributes to the literature on decentralization, political accountability, and crisis governance by highlighting the importance of institutional structures in understanding voter behaviour during major external shocks.

📄 The Working Paper is available at: https://www.ideagov.eu/wp