Main description:

This book draws attention to the non-biological-political, economic, societal and cultural-variables shaping both the emergence and persistence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global response to it, with a particular focus on political decisionmakers' role in the domestic and international politics surrounding the process of the pandemic. The book identifies the strategic and underlying ethical failures of decision making, using a process-tracing approach to reconstruct considerations, decisions and actions by key leaders-interested in thus weaving a global narrative of the response. The author highlights key speech acts, and interprets the causal implications embedded in a chronological and contextualised appraisal of events, statements and public health measures. The book further discusses the normative ethics of pandemic response, and presents lessons drawn from the present experience. It also offers a normative analysis taking into consideration pre-pandemic guidelines for response, including in the literature of public health ethics and pandemic preparedness plans.

Contents:

Chapter 1: Introduction and Analytic Framework
Part I: War on Pape
Chapter 2: Ethics in Governance: Pandemic Response as a Vital Interest
Chapter 3: The Ethics of Response to Plague on Distant Shores
Chapter 4: The Ethics of Practices in Pandemic Response
Part II: Friction
Chapter 5: The Need/Failure to Prepare and Prevent
Chapter 6: The Need/Failure to Anticipate and Pre-empt
Chapter 7: The Need/Failure to React, Adequately Prioritise and Persevere
Chapter 8: The Need/Failure to Honestly Account and Take Responsibility
Chapter 9: Lessons, Recommendations, Conclusion