An argument for the centrality of rights in health security, and how to apply ethical principles to protecting those rights during public health crises.
In recent years, efforts to respond to infectious diseases have been described in terms of national and global security, leading to the formation of the field of “health security.” In War on All Fronts, Nicholas G. Evans provides a novel theory of just health securityand its relation to the practice of conventional public health. Using COVID-19 as a jumping-off point to examine wider issues, including how the US thinks about and prepares for pandemics, Evans shows the flaws in using the “war metaphor" and how any serious understanding of health security must square with human rights—even when a disease poses a threat to national security. Evans asks what ethical principles justify declaring, and taking action during, a public health emergency such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The relevant principles, he argues, parallel those of the ethics of armed conflict. Just war theory, properly understood, begins with pacifism and a commitment to the right not to be killed and then steps back to ask under what limited conditions it is permissible to kill. In a similar way, a just health security must also begin with the idea that public health should hold human rights sacrosanct and then ask under what limited conditions other concerns might prevail. Evans's overall goal is to formulate a guide to action, particularly as the world deals with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Turning to the transition from war back to peace in public health, he looks at reparation, rebuilding, and the accountability of actors during the crisis.
Conditions of Use
This book is licensed under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND). You can download the ebook War on All Fronts for free.
- Title
- War on All Fronts
- Subtitle
- A Theory of Health Security Justice
- Publisher
- The MIT Press
- Author(s)
- Nicholas G. Evans
- Published
- 2023-05-16
- Edition
- 1
- Format
- eBook (pdf, epub, mobi)
- Pages
- 256
- Language
- English
- ISBN-10
- 0262545438
- ISBN-13
- 9780262374224
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND
- Book Homepage
- Free eBook, Errata, Code, Solutions, etc.
Contents A Note on Acronyms Acknowledgments 1. Introduction The War on COVID-19 Health Security Public Health Ethics and Health Security Methods, Limits, and Structure of This Book 2. The War Metaphor Securitization The Strength of the Comparison Just Securitization Theory Conclusion 3. Reconciling Military and Public Health Ethics The Orthodox View Normative Regimes, Imperfectly Realized Public Health and Military Ethics Objections Conclusion 4. The Impersonal Account of Disease The Threat of Disease Victims and Vectors An Impersonal Account of Disease Contingent Pacifism Ecology Objections and Complications Conclusion 5. The Moral Foundations of the Public Health State Public Health and Legitimacy Problems of Deep Pluralism Minimal Morality and the Public Health State Objections Conclusion 6. Justly Declaring an Emergency A Problem of Definitions What Is a Public Health Emergency (And What Should It Be)? Just Cause Proportionality Force Short of (Public Health) War Conclusion: Balancing Principles 7. The Ethics of Liberty-Limiting Measures Jus in Bello Social Distancing Interference and Domination Revised Criteria Evaluating Social Distancing Measures Just Health Security: Flexible but Demanding Conclusion 8. Drawing up the Troops: Waging War on Disease “Essential Personnel” Duty to Treat Public Health Leadership Conclusions 9. Peace in Public Health Jus post Bellum The Ethics of Ending a Public Health Emergency COVID-19 and International Accountability Conclusion 10. Whose War? Policy and Public Health Politics The Poison of Naive Neutrality Health Hawks, War Doves Business as Usual, with a Twist The Breakdown Future Visions of (Public Health) War and Peace Epilogue: Emergency Innovation Moonshots and Manhattan Projects The Risks of Emergency Innovation Norms in Need of Change The Kalashnikov Model for Pandemic Innovation Basic STEM for Complex Times Notes Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Epilogue Index
