Nordic Crisis Management in Covid-19

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Nordic Crisis Management in COVID-19: Lessons Learned for the Next Catastrophe

This conference marks the publication of the book "Nordic Crisis Management: Well-Performing Governance during COVID-19", edited by Ásthildur Elva Bernharðsdóttir, Professor at Bifröst University, and Baldur Þórhallsson, Professor at the University of Iceland. The volume provides the first systematic comparative analysis of how the five Nordic states, together with Greenland and the Faroe Islands, managed the COVID-19 pandemic. The conference will also address broader lessons for governance, resilience, and crisis management and discuss whether the Nordic model of crisis management is sufficiently prepared for the next major transboundary crisis in an increasingly uncertain and polarized international environment.

The conference brings together scholars from across the Nordic region who have participated in the research project Crisis Management and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Leadership, Expertise and Best Practices. The project has examined how administrative scale, polity and structural arrangements, and culture shaped crisis management in the Nordic countries during COVID-19.

Please register here: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/awMYFvMkVK

The event will take place in English and is open to all.

Programme

12.00 - 12.05 Welcome Words: The Project and the Book

Baldur Þórhallsson, Professor of Political Science and Research Director of the Centre for Small State Studies, University of Iceland

12.05 - 12.15 Welcome Address: Iceland’s Preparations for the Next Crisis

12.15 - 12.30 Risk, Leadership, and Communication: Crisis Management across the Seven Nordic Entities

Speaker: Ásthildur Elva Bernharðsdóttir, Professor at Bifröst University

12.30 - 13.00 Smallness as Strength: Crisis Management in Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands

Panel discussion: Maria Ackrén, Director of the Stefansson Institute, University of Akureyri

Vífill Harðarson, Researcher, Faculty of Political Science, University of Iceland

Rógvi Olavson, PhD Student, Faculty of History and Societal Sciences, University of the Faroe Islands

Moderator: Baldur Þórhallsson, Professor of Political Science and Research Director of the Centre for Small State Studies, University of Iceland

Break – 15 minutes

13.15 - 14.00 Between Command and Consensus: Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden in Crisis

Panel discussion:

Nina Hokkala, Research Assistant, Faculty of Management and Business, Tampere University

Mats Koraeus, Senior analyst at the Centre for Societal Security (CTSS) and Total Defence Campus coordinator Centre for Societal Security, Swedish Defence University

Alexander Trengereid, PhD research fellow, Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Safety, Economics and Planning, University of Stavanger

Karsten Vrangbæk, Professor at the Political Science and Public Health Department, University of Copenhagen

Moderator: Eero Palmujoki, Lecturer, Faculty of Management and Business, Tampere University

Break – 15 minutes

14.15 - 14.30 The Role of Size, Structure, and Culture: Comparing the Seven Nordic Entities

Speaker: Per Lægreid, Professor Emeritus, Department of Government, University of Bergen

Moderator: Pia Hansson, Director of the Institute of International Affairs, University of Iceland

14.30 - 15.30 The Future: The Nordic Way and the Next Catastrophe

The final panel will discuss whether the Nordic model of crisis management is sufficiently prepared for the next major transboundary crisis in an increasingly uncertain and polarized international environment.

Panel discussion:

Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Prime Minister from 2017-2024

Víðir Reynisson, Chair of the General Affairs and Education Committee of the Althingi, and former Chief Superintendent of the Office of the National Commissioner of the Police

Pawel Bartoszek, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Althingi

Per Lægreid, Professor Emeritus, Department of Government, University of Bergen

Karsten Vrangbæk, Professor at the Political Science and Public Health Department, University of Copenhagen

Moderator: Pia Hansson, Director of the Institute of International Affairs, University of Iceland