This incisive book addresses the significant challenges facing the public sector in an era of rising global turbulence. Expert authors explore strategies for robust public governance, emphasizing the need for flexible adaptation and proactive innovation to fulfil political ambitions, uphold values, and undertake key societal functions in times of crisis. Chapters examine diverse approaches to turbulent problems, drawing on comparative empirical studies of local responses to the refugee crisis, the climate crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic. They highlight the benefits of combining theory and practice, introducing a novel analytical framework to demonstrate the importance of collaborative governance and new institutional designs. Ultimately, the book looks toward the future study of robust governance, proposing an interdisciplinary research agenda that goes beyond the traditional dichotomy between public administration and crisis management. Students and researchers in public governance, public administration, political science, and public policy will benefit from the cutting-edge insights in this book. It is also an invaluable resource for policymakers and practitioners in the public sector and in private consultancy firms seeking to understand new developments in public governance.

Table of Contents:
Contents 1 The challenge of societal turbulence and the need for robust public governance 1 Christopher Ansell, Eva Sørensen, Jacob Torfing and Jarle Trondal 2 Turbulence as a challenge to public governance 13 Jarle Trondal and Christian Lo 3 Robust public governance: political and administrative Strategies 27 Eva Sørensen and Jacob Torfing 4 Robust governance of crisis-induced turbulence: an analytical framework 57 Christopher Ansell and Jacob Torfing 5 Robustness strategies—municipality responses to the COVID-19 pandemic 76 Ingunn Skjesol, Silje Valberg and Gøril Ursin 6 Handling crisis-induced turbulence: how a Norwegian municipality collaborated with other actors to respond robustly to an extreme weather incident 100 Gulnara Nadamova and Aase Kristine Lundberg 7 Robust strategic responses to turbulence in municipal refugee services: advancing the capacity for flexibility 123 Ann-Torill Tørrisplass and Berit Irene Vannebo 8 The role of digital platforms for robust governance 147 Leif Skiftenes Flak, Berit Irene Vannebo and Silje Valberg 9 Robust governance of societal turbulence—today and tomorrow 163 Christopher Ansell, Janne Iren Paulsen Breimo, Christian Lo, Eva Sørensen, Jarle Trondal and Jacob Torfing