Page - 164 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

VULNERABLE164 les principales caractéristiques, en insistant sur la nécessité de pou- voir compter sur des institutions fortes, des processus décisionnels solides et des personnes compétentes pour prendre des décisions. Dans le contexte de la pandémie actuelle, les institutions canadiennes ont révélé certaines de leurs lacunes et de leurs insuffisances, mais dans l’ensemble, elles se sont montrées plutôt efficaces. Les proces- sus décisionnels ont été adaptés pour améliorer leur rendement, et les personnes occupant des postes de direction ont été à la hauteur des défis qui se sont présentés. Ainsi, en ce qui concerne les institu- tions, les processus et les individus, nous avons été relativement bien servis. There are several determinants of success in managing a pandemic, but good governance is key. In the next few years, we will look across states and sub-national governments to assess why some were more successful than others. However, at the moment, there seem to be several indicia of good performance. Democracies with high levels of social trust, strong institutions, science-based decision-making, and technocratic leaders seem to have done well, as have some autocratic states. However, unscientific, populist-led countries such as Brazil and the U.S. appear to have done less well. In this short chapter, I elaborate on why good governance mat- ters in a pandemic. I underscore the key attributes of good governance, focusing on strong institutions, robust processes of decision-making, and the right people making those decisions. Of course, there is an important interplay among these three factors. Institutions Institutions matter.1 Acemaglu and Robinson have long held that the strength of political and economic institutions determines good gov- ernance, which in turn determines economic and social success.2 Three types of institutions affect performance in the context of a pandemic like COVID-19: those charged with operations (for example, Chief 1. Daron Acemoglu & James A Robinson, Why  Nations  Fail:  The  Origins  of  Power,  Prosperity,  and  Poverty (New York: Crown Publishers, 2012). 2. Daron Acemoglu & James A Robinson, The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies and the  Fate  of  Liberty (New York: Penguin Press, 2019).