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The COVID-19 Pandemic Demonstrates the Need for Robust Governance Responses to Turbulent Problems

Christopher Ansell, Eva Sørensen, Jacob Torfing

The COVID-19 pandemic provides us with a magnifying glass into how the public sector confronts problems that are not only simple or complex, but also turbulent. Turbulent problems demand robust solutions that are flexible, adaptive, and polyvalent enough to realize a particular agenda, function, and value in the face of challenges, stressors or threats that are surprising or unexpected. As such, the current crisis urges us to expand public administration research on the nexus between turbulence and robustness. As a first step toward advancing this research agenda, we identify a repertoire of robust governance strategies to deal with turbulent problems, such as the immensely disruptive COVID-19 pandemic. We also seek to flesh out the implications of the search for robust responses to turbulence for public organizations and public leadership.