Abstract
What are the implications of governmental responses to crises for street-level implementation? The COVID-19 pandemic presents a unique opportunity to compare the formal role that decision-makers require of street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) during a crisis. Textual analysis of 36 legislative documents and emergency regulations in Israel indicates that the additional duties assigned to police officers, teachers, and physicians reflect three interrelated changes in street-level implementation: increased policy ambiguity, higher risk exposure, and expanded discretion. Decision-makers’ expectations of SLBs during a crisis highlight the inherent limit of policy-as-written to account for the operational, action-imperative essence of on-the-ground service delivery.Note: In the interests of space, street-level theory and the pandemic context underpinning the articles for this Special Issue are discussed in detail in the Introduction to the Issue.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 120-130 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice |
Volume | 23 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2020 The Editor, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice.
Keywords
- COVID-19
- crisis
- discretion
- risk
- street-level bureaucrats
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Sociology and Political Science
- Public Administration