New Pandemics, Old Politics: Two Hundred Years of War on Disease and its Alternatives

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Alex de Waal

New Pandemics, Old Politics

Two Hundred Years of War on Disease and its Alternatives

Alex de Waal

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Hardback

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English

Polity Press
09 April 2021

Politics & government

New Pandemics, Old Politics explores how the modern world adopted a martial script to deal with epidemic disease threats, and how this has failed – repeatedly. Europe first declared ‘war’ on cholera in the 19th century. It didn’t defeat the disease but it served purposes of state and empire. In 1918, influenza emerged from a real war and swept the world unchecked by either policy or medicine. Forty years ago, AIDS challenged the confidence of medical science. AIDS is still with us, but we have learned to live with it – chiefly because of community activism and emancipatory politics.

Today, public health experts and political leaders who failed to listen to them agree on one thing: that we must ‘fight’ Covid-19. There’s a consensus that we should target individual pathogens and suppress them – rather than address the reasons why our societies are so vulnerable. Arguing that this consensus is mistaken, Alex de Waal makes the case for a new democratic public health for the Anthropocene.

By: Alex de Waal
Imprint: Polity Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 208mm, Width: 142mm, Spine: 28mm
Weight: 499g
ISBN: 9781509547791
ISBN 10: 1509547797
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 09 April 2021
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Acknowledgements 1. Following the Science, Following the Script 2. The Rage of Numbers: Cholera 3. Metamorphosis: Influenza 4. Who, Whom: HIV/AIDS 5. Imagined Unknowns: Pandemic X 6. Emancipatory Catastrophe? Covid-19 Notes Bibliography

Alex de Waal is Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation and a Research Professor at The Fletcher School at Tufts University.

Reviews for New Pandemics, Old Politics: Two Hundred Years of War on Disease and its Alternatives

In its scope, learning, and wisdom, New Pandemics, Old Politics is nothing less than stunning. Alex de Waal shows both how pathogens have always been part of life and how the course they take is shaped by human choices. As we try to understand the Covid-19 pandemic and prepare for pandemics yet to come, this deeply learned and compassionate book will remain indispensable. Sulmaan Khan, Tufts University Alex de Waal brilliantly exposes a disordered and disrupted world, 'de-prepared' for pandemics and pleads for change. New Pandemics, Old Politics makes an urgent call to abandon the failed 'war on disease' script, appealing for a new 'emancipatory public health.' Heidi J Larson, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine