Governance: Struggle and Strife—Or Synergy and Success—In the Trans‐COVID Era

• Published date: 01 January 2021
• Author: Jeremy L. Hall
• Date: 01 January 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13347

Governance: Struggle and Strife—Or Synergy and Success—In the Trans-COVID Era 7

We are virtually there: Virtually past the

horrors of 2020. Virtually past the

difficulty of a very tumultuous presidential

transition in the United States. Virtually able to see

hope at the end of the COVID-19 despair as vaccines

roll out across the globe. And, in large part, we are still

“virtually” there, convening our meetings remotely

via videoconference from the comforts of our own

homes. Our atmosphere continues to be one of great

uncertainty. I have dubbed this the Trans-COVID era;

we are now comfortably situated somewhere between

the commencement of the global pandemic a year

ago, and its foreseeable end, which may be a year yet

to come. The effects will, of course, linger for years or

potentially decades. We are fully engaged in fighting a

disease that is sufficiently understood to be treated, no

longer waiting on bated breath for answers, but rather

for the implementation of solutions and answers that

have been revealed. And yet, we continue to writhe in

time-honored debates about equity, safety, and fairness

as states and localities roll out and adapt localized

solutions to the pandemic and the secondary problems

it has caused, including modified election procedures.

The effects on constructs such as transparency and

accountability will likely come to be explored in

greater detail once the crisis has come to its natural

end. Fear of the disease is now accompanied by the

fear of economic uncertainty, fear of government

itself, fear of over-reaching executive authority, fear

that government plans for vaccine rollout will be too

late, fear for the loss of individual liberty, and even

fear that the pillars of democracy have been too far

shaken to allow our republic to persist. I speak from

the U.S. perspective, because it is the one in which I

am situated, and with which I am most familiar, not to

overlook or belittle similar strife around the globe.

In general, the amorphous has begun to solidify, but

many things that seemingly held together through

the brunt of this storm are, only now, beginning

to unravel. Doctoral programs are suspending

admissions—and thoughtfully so—as the market

for academic positions has contracted to a trickle,

and as data collection necessary for original research

is virtually impossible (Korn2020). State and local

governments are beginning to realize the true impact

of the pandemic and associated closures on revenue

and budgets. Nonprofit organizations have closed

the calendar year with new answers about how their

revenues and programs have been, and might yet be,

affected. While the election served to quiet much of

the social discord experienced throughout the year

with protests across our cities, new discontent has

ripened to challenge the results of that very election.

As I write this editorial, the U.S. Congress is debating

the acceptance of the electoral college votes following

a protest that resulted in a breach and subsequent

lockdown of the U.S. Capitol. All is not yet well in

the world, and whether we reflect on government

or governance, fundamental questions are being

reshaped on a daily basis. Fortunately, scholars of

public management and policy are always engaged by

these topics, and they will quickly work to fill such

knowledge chasms as they begin to gape.

The micro-level foundations of these companion

crises—pandemic and social discord—offer one avenue

for exploration. Individualism manifests in various

ways; stress, uncertainty, and crisis have a way of

guiding people to focus on their core values. We rest

on the certainty of our belief systems—our culture,

heritage, and values—when all else is seemingly

embroiled in the tumultuous turmoil of uncertainty.

We begin to characterize everything as right or wrong,

and the natural result is to polarize ourselves around

the events of the day. I have witnessed—even pointed

out on occasion—considerable hypocrisy over the

past year as both professional news reporters and

self-appointed citizen analysts evaluate circumstances

differently depending on the perceived value set of the

perpetrators. Sadly, individualism has given way to

self-interest, and that to pure selfishness. Factions, large

and small, run rampant across our republic.

I called, in a previous editorial, for a return to decency

(Hall and Battaglio2020). I would now expand

Governance: Struggle and Strife—Or Synergy and

Success—In the Trans-COVID Era

Jeremy L. Hall

University of Central Florida

Editorial

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 81, Iss. 1, pp. 7–11. © 2021 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13347.