Learning from past pandemic governance: Early response and Public-Private Partnerships in testing of COVID-19 in South Korea

How can political elites learn from the past to enhance sustainability of their leadership in a pandemic situation? In this article, we develop a theoretical framework of policy implementation that combines collaboration from public and private sectors (“Public-Private Partnership,” or PPP) to efficiently deal with urgent crises such as COVID-19. We explain the role of new institutions prompted by policy failure precedence (Time 1) that at a later time period (Time 2) allow for the activation of PPPs with the aim to extend the political life of incumbent leaderships. Specifically, we examine the case of South Korea, a country in which a prior case of MERS in 2015 (Time 1) had established new policies for pandemic governance. In 2020, such policies were activated by the incumbent leadership in order to contain COVID-19 (Time 2). In particular, for swift and effective management of the pandemic, the South Korean government utilized partnerships with the private sector to exponentially increase the amount of Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) testing. We apply Policy Feedback Theory to demonstrate the political effects of failed policy precedents and how the political outcomes again shape new policies in a dynamic and cyclical manner. Empirically, we conduct a content analysis of South Korea’s pharmaceutical sector in government procurement and exports of test-kits during the COVID-19 pandemic. We show that as the pandemic situation progressed, South Korea’s leader, who had been in danger of plummeting support to the extent that impeachment was discussed as a viable option, drastically shifted public opinion to achieve a landslide victory in general elections in April 2020. Our findings suggest that democratic governments, aware of precedents and wary of their fate in elections, are pressured to perform well in crisis management, and thus turn to rapidly mobilizing public and private means for survival. Such means are evidenced by the case of emergency use authorization (EUA) process for test-kits, in which “leapfrogging players” – up-and-coming innovators – that contribute to turning a pandemic crisis into an opportunity for sustainable leadership and for themselves.