Abstract
Federal and unitary systems of government each present their own advantages and challenges for governance. Whether either system is better equipped to respond in times of crisis has received growing scholarly attention in recent years, with mixed results. In terms of the global COVID-19 pandemic, federal systems of government have, on average, considerably underperformed in broad COVID-19 outcomes (i.e., deaths per thousand) compared with unitary systems of government. The underperformance of federal governments can be attributed to the interplay of governance capacity and legitimacy issues. This chapter focuses on one of the specific challenges that led to underperformance in some federal systems: fragmented crisis communications. As federal nations have been characterized by dysfunctional policy dynamics, this chapter homes in on public sector communication and policy in the United States, India, and Russia. Alternatively, as federal nations that were relatively successful in navigating the pandemic, public sector communication and policies are explored in Canada, Germany, and Australia. This chapter concludes with a discussion of important lessons learned for effective crisis communication, broadly speaking, in federal systems.