Open access
COVID MANAGEMENT IN EASTERN EUROPE. A TRAGEDY FAR FROM THE LIMELIGHT
Piotr (Peter) BOŁTUĆ1, Friederike FISHER2
Society-education-economy: selected problems and questions
Publication language: English
Journal article
Transformations No. 2 (117) 2023, Publication date: 30 June 2023
Keywords: COVID mortality; COVID management in Eastern Europe; moral criterion for COVID management; thick-bridging social capital; thick and thin vertical social capital; emergent social capital; professional ethics
Abstract East-Central Europe is the region with the highest documented COVID-19 mortality rate in the world. We search for underlying causes of this situation. Relatively low trust in the governments and hectic policy lead us to the complexities of the structure of social capital (SC) in the region. We find the combo of thick-bridging SC, exemplified by jovial celebrating with strangers; also weakness of thin vertical SC, needed for modern leadership in emergency management. Predominant thick vertical SC leads to favouritism and resulting incompetence, mixed with general distrust of the government. In some cases, this may be mitigated by emergent SC, which is short-lived.
The Warsaw School of Economics (SGH), Poland; University of Illinois Springfield (UIS), USA
ORCID: 0000-0002-7210-615X
E-mail: pbolt1@uis.edu
Berlin School of Economics and Law (HWR), Germany