Health security is well-recognized now as a critical component of national security. In Viral Sovereignty, Dr Ear offers a masterclass in this provocative book, impressive in its breadth and depth and perfectly timed for this Covid era.
Brad Boetig, MD, MPH, MA, Colonel, US Air Force, Director, Global Health Graduate Certificate Program, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA
This book is a must read for academics, global health practitioners and policymakers wanting to gain a broader understanding of the challenges in the development of health infrastructure for the detection of emerging infectious diseases. Through personal interviews, literature review and country examples, the author addresses the broader context of political, cultural and economic issues within countries and within donor organizations that have inhibited development of health infrastructure and meaningful viral sovereignty a countrys ability to detect and address emerging disease and to share that information regionally and internationally.
Robert Martin, MPH, DrPH, Senior Advisor, Diagnostic Microbiology Development Program, Professor Emeritus, University of Washington USA
Viral Sovereignty and the Political Economy of Pandemics
Over the past few decades a number of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) have disrupted societies throughout the world, including HIV, Ebola, H5N1 (or avian flu), and SARS, and of course the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) which spread worldwide to become a global pandemic. As well as EIDs, countries and regions also contend with endemic diseases, such as malaria. There are many factors that have contributed to the rise in, and the spread of, EIDs and other diseases, including overpopulation, rapid urbanization, environmental degradation, and antibiotic resistance. Political and cultural responses to disease can greatly affect their spread. The global community needs to defend itself against disease threats: one weak link is enough to start a chain reaction that results in a global pandemic such as COVID-19. Some states take a nationalistic approach towards combating disease; however, international cooperation and meaningful viral sovereigntyempowering countries to create effective health institutions and surveillance systems in order to contain diseasemust be considered.
This volume, with a focus on Southeast Asia, Africa, and North America, considers the intersection between disease, politics, science, and culture in the global battle against pandemics, making use of case studies and interviews to examine the ways in which governments and regions handle outbreaks and pandemics.
Dr Sophal Ear is Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs and Global Development and a tenured Associate Professor in the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, USA. He is the author of Aid Dependence in Cambodia: How Foreign Assistance Undermines Democracy (Columbia University Press), co-author of The Hungry Dragon: How Chinas Resource Quest Is Reshaping the World (Routledge), and co-editor of the special virtual issue of Politics and the Life Sciences on Coronavirus: Politics, Economics, and Pandemics (Cambridge University Press). A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and of Princeton University, he moved to the United States from France as a Cambodian refugee at the age of ten.
Europa International Perspectives
Providing in-depth analysis with a global reach, this series from Europa examines a wide range of contemporary political, economic, developmental and social issues in international perspective. Intended to complement the Europa Regional Surveys of the World series and The Europa Directory of International Organizations, Europa International Perspectives will be an invaluable resource for academics, students, researchers, policymakers, business people and anyone with an interest in current world affairs with an emphasis on international organizations and issues.
While The Europa World Year Book and its associated Europa Regional Surveys inform on and analyse contemporary economic, political and social developments, the Editors considered the need for more in-depth volumes written or edited by specialists in their field, in order to delve into particular regional situations. Volumes in the series are not constrained by any particular template, but may explore recent political, economic, regional and international relations, social, defence, or other issues in order to increase knowledge.
Viral Sovereignty and the Political Economy of Pandemics
What Explains How Countries Handle Outbreaks?
Sophal Ear
First published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2022 Sophal Ear
The right of Sophal Ear to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-032-13385-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-13390-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-22897-4 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003228974
For Chamnan, Steven, Caitlyn, Nathan, and JasminS.E.
Dr Sophal Ear is Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs and Global Development and a tenured Associate Professor in the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, USA. Previously, he taught how to rebuild countries after wars at the US Naval Postgraduate School and international development at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. He consulted for the World Bank, was Assistant Resident Representative for the United Nations Development Programme in East Timor, and Advisor to Cambodias first private equity fund Leopard Capital. A TED Fellow, Fulbright Specialist, former Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, alumni Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, former Audit and Independent Search Committees Chair of the Nathan Cummings Foundation (New York), and former Treasurer of Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (Washington, DC), he is Governance Co-Chair of Refugees International (Washington, DC), Audit Chair of Partners for Development (Silver Spring, MD), Treasurer of International Public Management Network (Washington, DC), Secretary of the Southeast Asia Development Program (Phnom Penh, Cambodia), and a Trustee of the Center for Khmer Studies (Siem Reap, Cambodia). He is the author of Aid Dependence in Cambodia: How Foreign Assistance Undermines Democracy (Columbia University Press), co-author The Hungry Dragon: How Chinas Resource Quest Is Reshaping the World (Routledge), and co-editor of the special virtual issue of
