Security and Public Health (Paperback)

Simon Rushton

ISBN 10: 1509515895 / ISBN 13: 9781509515899

Published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd, Oxford, 2019

About this Item

Paperback. For most Western governments, defending against the threat of infectious disease is now an accepted security priority. Deciding what resources and policies to put in place to protect populations from pandemics, however, involves difficult political choices. How can we get these decisions right? And what are we prepared to sacrifice to achieve better health security? In this book, Simon Rushton explores the politics of pandemics in the contemporary world. Looking back over three decades of public health, he traces national and international efforts to tackle infectious disease, focusing in-depth on three core areas in which securitization has been particularly successful: rapidly spreading pandemic diseases, HIV/AIDS and man-made pathogenic threats, such as biological weapons. Three central problems raised by common responses to disease as a security threat are then examined: the impact upon individuals and civil liberties; the tendency to treat the symptoms and not the underlying causes of disease outbreaks; and the limited range of diseases deemed worthy of global attention and action. Arguing against a tendency to treat global health security as a technical challenge, the book stresses the need for a vibrant, and even confrontational, political engagement around the implications of securitizing public health. "In this book, Simon Rushton explores the politics of pandemics in the contemporary world. Arguing against a tendency to treat global health security as a technical challenge, the book stresses the need for a vibrant, and even confrontational, political engagement around the implications of securitizing public health"-- Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781509515899

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Security and Public Health (Paperback)
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, Oxford
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1509515895
• ISBN 13: 9781509515899
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

For most Western governments, defending against the threat of infectious disease is now an accepted security priority. Deciding what resources and policies to put in place to protect populations from pandemics, however, involves difficult political choices. How can we get these decisions right? And what are we prepared to sacrifice to achieve better health security?

In this book, Simon Rushton explores the politics of pandemics in the contemporary world. Looking back over three decades of public health, he traces national and international efforts to tackle infectious disease, focusing in-depth on three core areas in which securitization has been particularly successful: rapidly spreading pandemic diseases, HIV/AIDS and man-made pathogenic threats, such as biological weapons. Three central problems raised by common responses to disease as a security threat are then examined: the impact upon individuals and civil liberties; the tendency to treat the symptoms and not the underlying causes of disease outbreaks; and the limited range of diseases deemed worthy of global attention and action. Arguing against a tendency to treat global health security as a technical challenge, the book stresses the need for a vibrant, and even confrontational, political engagement around the implications of securitizing public health.

About the Author

Simon Rushton is Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Sheffield.