Lee Taedong, Paik Wooyeal, Lim Sangyoung, Lee Sang Yup
Department of Political Science, Yonsei University, 105 Yonhee Hall, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 03722 South Korea.
Department of Political Science and Diplomacy, Yonsei University, 307-2 Yonhee Hall, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 03722 South Korea.
Ann Reg Sci. 2022 May 17:1-20. doi: 10.1007/s00168-022-01133-x.
What do citizens demand of their governing bodies to cope with the spread of emerging infectious diseases after recognizing the growing danger? What are the similarities and differences in political participation via online citizen petitions regarding COVID-19 across cities with different degrees of pandemic experience? This study aims to answer these questions by examining citizen petitions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in urban areas of South Korea. The pattern of citizens' requests is a part of integrative socio-ecological and political systems with spatial and temporal dimensions. We compare the pattern of online citizen petitions in four Korean cities, namely Seoul, Busan, Daegu, and Incheon, some of which were epicenters of the COVID-19 outbreak. By applying relevant big data analysis techniques such as text mining, topic modeling, and network analysis, we compare the characteristics of citizen petitions on COVID-19 in the four cities, particularly whether (and how) they want financial or welfare support or COVID-19 prevention. We find that cities that experience a rapid spread are likely to have more petitions for prevention than for support. By comparison, cities without such experience are likely to have more petitions for support. This study contributes by tracing citizen and local government interactions in response to emerging infectious diseases by empirically analyzing the related big data on petitions. Policy implications suggest that urban authorities should listen to analyze and respond to the urgent needs of citizens.
在认识到日益增长的危险后，公民对其治理机构应对新兴传染病传播有哪些要求？在不同程度经历过疫情的城市中，通过在线公民请愿书进行的关于新冠疫情的政治参与有哪些异同？本研究旨在通过审视韩国城市地区关于新冠疫情的公民请愿书来回答这些问题。公民诉求模式是具有时空维度的综合社会生态和政治系统的一部分。我们比较韩国四个城市——首尔、釜山、大邱和仁川（其中一些是新冠疫情爆发的中心）的在线公民请愿书模式。通过应用文本挖掘、主题建模和网络分析等相关大数据分析技术，我们比较这四个城市关于新冠疫情的公民请愿书的特征，特别是他们是否（以及如何）希望获得财政或福利支持或新冠疫情预防措施。我们发现，疫情快速传播的城市可能预防方面的请愿书比支持方面的更多。相比之下，没有这种经历的城市可能支持方面的请愿书更多。本研究通过实证分析请愿书相关大数据来追踪公民与地方政府在应对新兴传染病方面的互动，从而做出贡献。政策启示表明，城市当局应倾听、分析并回应公民的迫切需求。
