Evidence-Based Policy driven by the scientific point of view – a Hong Kong covid-19 experience

Aleksander Dańda

doi:10.35765/hp.2905

Published : 2025-12-31

Vol. 16 No. 57 (2025)

Evidence-Based Policy driven by the scientific point of view – a Hong Kong covid-19 experience

Aleksander Dańda

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7576-0704

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35765/hp.2905

Section: Articles Varia

Abstract

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: This article identifies conditions that were relevant to the implementation of principles of the evidence-based thinking (EBP) model in Hong Kong in 2020.

THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: By employing public policy analysis the article discusses whether the scientific perspective truly prevailed over the political perspective in the first months of the pandemic in Hong Kong, and whether this represented a lasting change. In the Hong Kong case study both quantitative and qualitative approaches are employed, as well as participant observation, throughout content analysis of the source material.

THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The EBP concepts discussed in the first part of the text encompass four perspectives on public policymaking – including scientific and political perspectives. The article then examines the 2003 SARS epidemic and the relationship between it and the institutional preparedness and trust in scientific knowledge in Hong Kong during the covid-19 period. The article provides a case study of the management of the pandemic crisis in Hong Kong during early months, demonstrating the visibility of scientific experts and government actors and their influence on public policies.

RESEARCH RESULTS: The article shows that in Hong Kong, during the initial period of covid-19 pandemic, the scientific perspective indeed dominated the process of formulating and communicating public policies. However, this dominance was limited in time.

CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: While the scientific perspective was prominent in Hong Kong and had a strong impact during the first weeks of the pandemic, the return of political control over public policy that occurred in mid-2020 signals that this episode was not a systemic change in Hong Kong, but it certainly highlighted the conditions under which an EBP process might re-emerge in the future.

Keywords

Evidence-Based Policy ; public policy ; Hong Kong ; covid-19

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Aleksander Dańda

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7576-0704

Bio Statement (e.g., department and rank)

Aleksander Dańda received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Jagiellonian University (the Faculty of International and Political Studies). From 2017 Associate Professor in Cracow University of Economics (Chair of International Relations, formerly Chair of Public Administration). In the years 2024-2025 Deputy Mayor of Skała (Małopolskie, Poland). In the years 2023-2024 Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Mumbai. In the years 2019-2023 Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Hong Kong and Macau. From 2016 to 2019 Director of the Department of Science at the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (former Deputy Director in the Department of Higher Education). In the years 2010-2014 Deputy President of Municipal Council in Skała. In the years 2009-2012 Dean of the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences at the Tischner European University in Cracow. A visiting scholar e.g. at the University of London and the University of Limerick. Author of publications on Anglo-Saxon countries, such as the monograph entitled Dominion – A Form of Political Regime in Anglo-Saxon Countries (TEU Press). Editor of Current Challenges to Peacekeeping Efforts and Development Assistance (TEU Press). Co-author of monograph Ombudsman Institutions in Anglo-Saxon Countries Against a Comparative Background (Wydawnictwo Sejmowe). His main research areas include South Asia, Far East and Anglo-Saxon countries-related topics such as: public administration, contemporary political systems, geopolitics and problems of contemporary international security.