A Crossnational Study of Political Correlates of Digital Contact Tracing Policy

Abstract

With digital technologies central to global and national effort to fight off COVID-19, one of the greatest challenges in the current pandemic crisis is to leverage technologies without losing sight of core values that define and sustain societies. As wondrously demonstrated by contact tracing apps and drive-through/walk-in testing, latest technologies have allowed countries like South Korea to contain the transmission of the virus without nationwide lockdowns. However, latest digital technologies at the core of current technical solutions addressing the COVID-19 crisis are Janus-faced, as other emerging technologies are are (Beck 1992, Douglas and Wildavsky 1983, Slovic 1987). Benefits and risks of such technologies in combating the virus often put governments in classical dilemmas over competing values in collective decision making (Arrow 1951, Stone 1987). This paper examines national policies on digital contact tracing, the very technology setting apart countries and cities of early success in the containment of COVID-19. Focusing on the technological designs of contact tracing apps, the study explores political and cultural correlates of crossnational variations in governmental choices over competing features of technological designs. The paper first introduces general approaches to digital contact tracing and several competing technical protocols, followed by a scoring of alternative values embodied in each protocol with a Delphi method of expert evaluation. Combining these scores with political and cultural variables (including a regime type and cultural orientation – available from the World Values Survey), the paper identifies factors affecting varying choices over digital contact tracing in 43 countries that have officially adopted contact tracing apps (as of December 2020). By uncovering a pattern of collective choices over competing values in digital contact tracing policy, this study is expected to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the political and ethical dilemmas in technological adoption and diffusion.