Policy Development for Crisis Management in the Context of Sri Lanka

Abstract

The paper aims to explore the key policy devising measures under crisis management in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. A key argument in the study is that building policy for crisis requires the understanding of both governance capacity as well as legitimacy. Through the theoretical lens of crisis management and resilience building, the study explores the key literature on the topic to arrive at a conceptual framework which is further explored through mixed-method research. The study explores the phenomenon in the context of Sri Lanka and its mechanism to deal with the pandemic. Fifteen interviews were conducted, followed by a survey covering key sectors of tourism, information technology and education to understand the extent to which crisis management strategies were achieved in the policy procedures. The article identifies some key themes: political capacity, stakeholder involvement, input capacity and throughput capacity in the overall governance system that requires further improvements, including the gender differences in accepting the policy decisions, which can be explored in future work for greater insight.