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During the current COVID-19 crisis, we have watched a wide range of responses by different forms of government around the world to the public health needs that have arisen. These varying responses to some degree are related to the  different political systems which are already in place.. For instance, as aFederalist Representative Democracy, the United States has a  central federal government but shares its power with fifty (50) different  state governments. South Korea is a centralized democratic republic in which most power rests with the president and legislature resulting in relatively weaker local governments. By contrast, China is a single-party republic. Power rests almost exclusively with the central government, with very little local control present. What challenges might each government type face when confronting crises such as COVID-19? What are the benefits and drawbacks of each system? For example,  the federal government in the United States may propose one solution while individual states may adopt conflicting solutions.  The outcome may be bolstering freedom of choice, but it may be difficult to promote and maintain  an overarching, unified national strategy. 

In this paper, we have chosen a few countries with different political systems and compare their responses to the COVID-19 epidemic.