Italy and Spain were the first countries affected by the shift of the pandemic epicentre from east to west. The rapid spread of the virus in allegedly similar social settings, the relatively high numbers of cases and casualties, and the adoption of drastic containment measures were similar in the two countries during the first wave of the pandemic. Both countries are enmeshed in an unstable political equilibrium at the centre, governed by recently established national political coalitions that have continuously been called into question and exposed to significant public debt. The two countries differ in the role of the executive vis-a-vis the legislative, and the tensions between central coordination and regional centrifugal forces. To improve the understanding of how the pandemic has influenced decision-making and crisis management, this article explains the relevance of institutional veto points, as well as differences between the two countries. There is room to match coordination, policy capacity and shared accountability through more collaborative governance.

Points for practitioners

Governing a transboundary crisis that involves different governmental levels is about creating an effective coordination mechanism that clarifies responsibilities, avoiding those who may block decision-making processes (veto players) through being incentivized to do so due to the absence of adequate shared accountability systems. National and regional managers should realize that the separation of territorial powers not accompanied by political coordination jeopardizes policy capacity in both the short and long term.

中文翻译：

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政府间在危机管理方面的否决点：意大利和西班牙面临COVID-19大流行

意大利和西班牙是第一批受大流行中心从东向西转移的国家。在第一波大流行期间，两国在据称相似的社会环境中迅速传播了病毒，病例和伤亡人数相对较高，采取了严厉的遏制措施。两国陷入中央不稳定的政治平衡，由最近成立的全国政治联盟管理，该联盟不断受到质疑，并承受着巨大的公共债务。两国在行政机关相对于立法机关的角色以及中央协调与区域离心力量之间的紧张关系上有所不同。为了更好地了解大流行病如何影响决策和危机管理，本文解释了机构否决权的相关性，以及两国之间的分歧。通过更多的协作治理，协调，政策能力和共同问责制之间存在空间。

从业人员要点

治理涉及不同政府级别的跨界危机，是要建立有效的协调机制以明确职责，避免因缺乏适当的共同问责制而受到激励而阻碍决策过程的人（否决参与者）。国家和区域管理人员应认识到，在短期和长期内，没有政治协调伴随而来的领土分权会损害政策能力。