Main description:

Biosecurity comprehensively analyzes the dramatic transformations that are reshaping how the international community addresses biological weapons and infectious diseases. The book examines the renewed threat from biological weapons, and explores the new world of biological weapons governance. Gostin and Fidler argue that the arms control approach in the Biological Weapons Convention no longer dominates. Other strategies have emerged to challenge the arms control approach, and the book identifies four important policy trends-the criminalization of biological weapons, regulation of the biological sciences, management of the biodefense imperative, and preparation for biological weapons attack. The book also explores the challenges to public health resulting from new security threats. The authors look at the linkages between security and public health policy, both at the national and international level. For instance, Gostin and Fidler scrutinize the difficulty of developing policies that improve defenses against both biological weapons and the threat of infectious diseases from new viral strains. The new worlds of biological weapons and public health governance raise the importance of crafting policy responses informed by the rule of law. Thinking about the rule of law underscores the importance of finding globalized forms of biosecurity governance. The book explores patterns in recent governance initiatives and advocates building a "global biosecurity concert" as a way to address the threats biological weapons and infectious diseases present in the early 21st century.

Contents:

1 Introduction: The Challenge of Biosecurity in the Twenty-First Century 1 PART I BIOSECURITY AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS 2 The Problem of Biological Weapons 23 3 The New World of Biological Weapons Governance 55 PART II BIOSECURITY AND PUBLIC HEALTH 4 The Securitization of Public Health 121 5 The New World of Public Health Governance 147 PART III BIOSECURITY, THE RULE OF LAW, AND GLOBALIZED GOVERNANCE 6 Biosecurity and the Rule of Law 187 7 Globalizing Governance: Toward a Global Biosecurity Concert 219 8 Conclusion: The Burden and Opportunity of Biosecurity in the Global Age 257 Annex 1 U.S. Government Select Agent List 263 Annex 2 Geneva Protocol of 1925 267 Annex 3 Biological Weapons Convention of 1972 269 Annex 4 Provisions Connected to Human Rights in the International Health Regulations (2005) 275 List of References 277 Index 295