Exploring the Role of Adaptive Capacity on Democratic Performance

新冠肺炎及其引发的经济崩溃，暴露了世界各地社区居民岌岌可危的财务、教育和社会状况。经济崩溃暴露并加剧了持久的经济和社会不平等，将那些就业、住房、衣着、教育和食物不稳定的人推入了更低或无法进入的深渊，将那些中等富裕的人推入了艰难的不确定性。为这种高需求/高风险人群提供服务的组织也面临着新的资源限制、不同的适应能力以及不同程度的协作能力和根据独特的、广泛的需求提高业绩的挑战。这项研究侧重于两个领域：减少不平等和脆弱性以及促进民主治理和政治参与。这些焦点有着千丝万缕的联系，可以同时进行卓有成效的探索。我们一起给他们贴上民主表演的标签。这项研究利用组织理论、组织行为学理论、社会学理论和民主理论，重点关注适应能力、组织间关系、绩效和官僚反应能力，在四个国家(美国、英国、加拿大和波兰)提出了四个问题：(RQ1)在新冠肺炎大流行期间，疫苗接种前和疫苗接种后，弱势人群出现了哪些真实和公认的健康、社会和经济福祉不平等，为什么会出现这些不平等？(RQ2)单一和合作的组织(政府、非营利组织)适应能力如何影响弱势人群、疫苗接种前和疫苗后的公平结果例如，个人感到被排斥和对社会支持组织的信任？(RQ3)单一和协作适应能力如何影响弱势群体的政策遵从性和行为？(RQ4)哪些数字工具将促进持续的国际和国内合作，以加强全球和地方行动，以减少不平等，增加决策的包容性，并加强信任和普遍政策遵守？研究问题将通过使用定性和定量数据收集和分析工具的多个嵌入式案例研究设计来回答。主要案例将是有政府和非营利社会支持组织的四个大都市地区(美国亚特兰大、英国曼彻斯特、加拿大蒙特利尔和波兰华沙)。这些服务将包括精神健康、残疾、老年护理、住房、就业以及家庭和儿童支持等服务。在每个城市，总共将招聘5-10家组织，并将对组织领导人进行一系列深入访谈，讨论RQ2和RQ3。将在每个城市或大都市地区对1100名受访者进行一般人口调查，以解决RQ1问题。调查结果将与研究第二阶段进行的调查结果进行比较，每个大都市地区至少有300名服务接受者。在该项目的最后一年和最后阶段，作为对RQ4的回应，所有参与的政府和非政府组织将与每个大都市地区的研究人员进行对话，共同设计一个可持续的虚拟平台，分享应对适应能力挑战的做法，以减少服务生产者和提供者以及弱势和边缘化人口之间存在的民主赤字。

COVID-19, and the economic collapse triggered by it, laid bare the precarious financial, educational, and social situations of residents in communities around the world. The collapse has exposed and exacerbated enduring economic and social inequities by pushing those precariously employed, housed, clothed, educated, and fed deeper into a low or no-access abyss and pushing those who were moderately well-off into the uncertainty of hardship. Organisations that serve this high need/high-risk population have also been challenged by new resource constraints, different capacities to adapt, and various levels of capacity for collaboration and to enhance performance in light of unique, widespread need. This research focuses in two areas: reducing inequalities and vulnerabilities and fostering democratic governance and political participation. These foci are inextricably linked and can fruitfully be explored in tandem. Together, we label them as democratic performance. Using organisational theories, organisational behaviour theories, sociological theories, and democratic theories, with a focus on adaptive capacity, inter-organizational relations, performance, and bureaucratic responsiveness, the research asks four questions across four countries (US, UK, Canada and Poland): (RQ1) What health, social and economic wellbeing inequalities both real and perceived emerged for vulnerable populations during COVID-19 pandemic, pre- and post-vaccine, and why did they emerge?(RQ2) How did single and collaborative organisational (government, nonprofit) adaptive capacities affect (in)equitable outcomes for vulnerable populations, pre- and post-vaccine, such as individual felt exclusion and trust in social support organisations? (RQ3) How did single and collaborative adaptive capacities affect policy compliance and behaviour for vulnerable populations? (RQ4) What digital tools will facilitate a sustained international and domestic collaboration to enhance global and local action to reduce inequities, increase inclusion in decision-making, and strengthen trust and universal policy compliance? The research questions will be answered through a multiple embedded case study design using qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis tools. The main cases will be four metropolitan areas (Atlanta, United States; Manchester, United Kingdom; Montreal, Canada; Warsaw, Poland) with government and nonprofit social support organisations. These will include services such as mental health, disability, eldercare, housing, employment, and family and child support. In each city, a combined total of 5-10 organisations will be recruited and a series of in-depth interviews with organisational leaders will address RQ2 and RQ3. A general population survey of 1100 respondents in each city or metropolitan region will be carried out to address RQ1. The findings will be compared to those from the survey that takes place in the second stage of the research with at least 300 service recipients in each metropolitan area. In the final year and phase of the project, in response to RQ4, all participating governmental and nongovernmental organisations will engage in dialogue with researchers in each metropolitan area to co-design a sustainable virtual platform to share practices that address adaptive capacity challenges to reduce the democratic deficit that exists between service producers and providers, and vulnerable and marginalised populations.