Skip to main content

ETHNOS_APP

Home • Search • Journals • List 0

The Global Politics of Medicine

Beyond global health, against securitisation theory

Bibliographic Data

ID11425834
AuthorsAlison Howell (0000-0002-4814-6872, Rutgers Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume40
Issue5
Pages961-987
Publication date2014-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReview of International Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0260-2105 • E-ISSN: 1469-9044
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0260210514000369
OpenAlexW1990422180
LanguageEN
Citations received45
References cited51

This article makes the case for a new field in International Relations (IR): the Global Politics of Medicine. It argues that significant avenues of research can be opened up by focusing on medicine and the life sciences, in order to both challenge current IR theories, and develop new theoretical and empirical insights in IR. In particular, the article challenges the validity of securitisation theory, and specifically the argument that health has been securitised. Showing instead that medicine and warfare have been imbricated from the nineteenth century as strategies of population, it challenges securitisation theory's ahistoricism and its assumption that social security and international security (and the norm/exception) are analytically divisible. Bringing this into the present through the examples of triage, psychological resilience, and genetic intelligence in counterinsurgency, it traces how warfare and medicine now ambitiously seek to treat populations as sets of individual bodies. Arguing that we cannot retreat to some mythical state of politics ‘prior’ to securitisation, it draws out how the fields of war, health, and medicine are nonetheless highly contested. The article concludes by challenging the fields of Global Health, war, and security studies, but also suggests novel routes for pursuing the study of the Global Politics of Medicine

Argument (complex analysis · Epistemology · International relations · International relations theory · Law and economics · Norm (philosophy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Population · Social science · Sociology · Bacillus and Francisella bacterial research · Global Security and Public Health · Health and Conflict Studies · Law · Medicine

  • ‘Pre-crime’, Prevent, and practices of exceptionalism

    Rosemary Rizq•Psychodynamic Practice•2017

  • Forum

    Open Access•Giovanni Agostinis, Karen A Grépin et al.•International Studies Review•2021

  • Genomic Screening from Healthfare to Warfare

    Open Access•Giovanni Fava, Roberta Raffaetà•SSM - Qualitative Research in…•2026

  • Hospitality for irregular migrants in the National Health Service

    Moises Vieira•Hospitality & Society•2025

  • Narrativization of human population genetics

    Open Access•Vadim Chaly, Olga Popova et al.•Public Understanding of Science•2024

  • The Virus of Surveillance

    Félix Tréguer•Political anthropological…•2021

  • Lockdown and the intimate

    Open Access•Sunčana Laketa, Sara Fregonese•Environment and Planning C…•2022

  • Expert-Led Securitization

    Open Access•Oliver Rubin, Erik Baekkeskov•Politics and Governance•2020

  • Securitising infectious disease outbreaks

    Open Access•Christopher Long•European Journal of International…•2023

  • Hallucination and intervention

    Steele Steele•Global Discourse•2017

  • The Threat of (the Lack of) Social Cohesion

    Open Access•Jan Daniel•Middle East Critique•2024

  • The geography of pre-criminal space

    Open Access•Charlotte Heath-Kelly•Critical Studies on Terrorism•2017

  • Flesh and steel

    Ernst Schwarz•Critical Studies on Terrorism•2018

  • Orders of worth and the moral conceptions of health in global politics

    Open Access•Tine Hanrieder•International Theory•2016

  • How to feel about war

    Open Access•Kenneth Macleish•BioSocieties•2018

  • Towards a new definition of health security

    Open Access•Annamarie Bindenagel Šehović•Global Public Health•2019

  • Identifying and addressing the governance accountability problem

    Open Access•Annamarie Bindenagel Šehović•Global Public Health•2017

  • Can we really “forget” militarization? A conversation on Alison Howell’s martial politics

    Megan Mackenzie, Thomas Gregory et al.•International Feminist Journal of…•2019

  • The logic of protection

    Mikael Jansson•International Feminist Journal of…•2016

  • Performative securitization

    Open Access•Lise Philipsen•Journal of International…•2018

  • Opportunistic oppression

    Open Access•Andrea Birdsall, Rebecca Sanders•The International Journal of…•2022

  • The somatic-security industrial complex

    Rebecca J Hester, Owain David Williams•Review of International Political…•2019

  • Securitizing Zika

    Open Access•Clare Wenham, Deborah Barros Leal Farias et al.•Security Dialogue•2019

  • The intersectionality of health (in)security

    Open Access•José Oviedo Pérez, Marcos Vinícius Isaias Mendes•Security Dialogue•2023

  • Governing dual-use knowledge

    Open Access•Dagmar Rychnovská•Security Dialogue•2016

  • Wars of excess

    Open Access•Benjamin Meiches•Security Dialogue•2019

  • Transness as insecurity

    Open Access•Darcy Leigh•Security Dialogue•2024

  • Algorithmic autoimmunity in the NHS

    Open Access•Charlotte Heath-Kelly•Security Dialogue•2016

  • Operating by caesura

    Viktor Friedmann, Peter Marton•Cambridge Review of International…•2025

  • What is told is always in the telling’

    Open Access•Cynthia Weber•Millennium Journal of International…•2016

  • The Psy-Security-Curriculum ensemble

    Open Access•Christine Winter, China Mills•Journal of Education Policy•2020

  • Military responses to Covid-19, emerging trends in global civil-military engagements

    Open Access•Fawzia Gibson-Fall•Review of International Studies•2021

  • Psy-expertise, therapeutic culture and the politics of the personal in development

    Elise Klein, China Mills•Third World Quarterly•2017

  • What can IR learn from disability studies? Debility, capacity and power in the case of Covid-19

    Open Access•Jenn Hobbs•European Journal of International…•2025

  • Securitising health in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

    Suzanne Morrison, Yara Asi et al.•Third World Quarterly•2025

  • From Threat to Risk? Exceptionalism and Logics of Health Security

    Open Access•Jessica Kirk•International Studies Quarterly•2020

  • Cold War Psychiatry, Extremism, and Expertise

    Open Access•Charlotte Heath-Kelly•International Political Sociology•2022

  • Racism in Foucauldian Security Studies

    Open Access•Alison Howell, Melanie Richter-Montpetit•International Political Sociology•2019

  • Affective technologies of welfare deterrence in Australia and the United Kingdom

    Open Access•China Mills, E Klein•Economy and Society•2021

  • Antisemitism and International Relations

    Open Access•Laura Jung, Darcy Leigh•European Journal of International…•2025

  • Bioinformational diplomacy

    Open Access•Stefan Elbe•European Journal of International…•2021

  • Securitising Covid-19? The Politics of Global Health and the Limits of the Copenhagen School

    Open Access•Daniel Edler Duarte, Marília Marília Valença•Contexto Internacional•2021

  • Shifting the burden

    J M Beier•Critical Studies on Security•2015

  • The pandemic sovereign

    Alice Martini, Andrea Russo et al.•Critical Military Studies•2025

  • Veteran Therapeutics

    Open Access•Zoë H Wool, Zoë Wool•Medical Anthropology Quarterly•2020

  • Global Health Security

    Open Access•Lawrence O Gostin•Global Health Security•2021

  • The Liberal Way of War

    Michael Dillon, J Reid•The liberal way of war•2009

  • Clinical Labor

    Open Access•Melinda Cooper, Catherine Waldby•Clinical Labor•2014

  • Reassessing Foucault

    Colin Jones, Roy Sydney Porter•Reassessing Foucault•1994

  • How To Do Things With Words

    J L Austin, John Austin•How to do things with words•1975

  • Tranquil Prisons

    Erick Fabris•Tranquil Prisons•2011

  • Madness in International Relations

    Alison Howell•Madness in international relations•2011

  • Security

    Barry Buzan, Ole Waever et al.•Security•1997

  • Securitization Theory. How Security Problems Emerge and Dissolve

    Thierry Braspenning, Thierry Balzacq•Securitization Theory. How…•2010

  • Health, stabilization and securitization

    Stuart Gordon•Medicine Conflict & Survival•2011

  • Evidence-based medicine and the governance of pandemic influenza

    Open Access•Adam Kamradt‐scott•Global Public Health•2012

  • The securitisation of pandemic influenza

    Open Access•Adam Kamradt‐scott, Colin Mcinnes•Global Public Health•2012

  • Society Must Be Defended’

    Muriel Côte, Mark Coté•Canadian Journal of Communication•2004

  • Security and the democratic scene

    Open Access•Claudia Aradau•Journal of International…•2004

  • From Social to National Security

    Open Access•Mark Neocleous•Security Dialogue•2006

  • Still an Inscrutable Concept

    Open Access•Roland Paris•Security Dialogue•2004

  • A Reductionist, Idealistic Notion that Adds Little Analytical Value

    Open Access•Barry Buzan•Security Dialogue•2004

  • Foucault in Guantánamo

    Open Access•Andrew W Neal•Security Dialogue•2006

  • Microbes, Mad Cows and Militaries

    Open Access•Sandra J Maclean•Security Dialogue•2008

  • A programme of global pacification

    Open Access•Markus Kienscherf•Security Dialogue•2011

  • Doing’ Security As Though Humans Matter

    Open Access•Heidi Hudson•Security Dialogue•2005

  • Guantánamo Bay and the Annihilation of the Exception

    Fleur Johns•European Journal of International…•2005

  • The Little Mermaid's Silent Security Dilemma and the Absence of Gender in the Copenhagen School

    Open Access•Lene Hansen•Millennium Journal of International…•2000

  • Of Camps and Critiques

    Open Access•Tarak Barkawi•Millennium Journal of International…•2012

  • From War to Security

    Open Access•Tarak Barkawi•Millennium Journal of International…•2011

  • Blair's Africa

    Open Access•R Abrahamsen•Alternatives Global Local Political•2005

  • Cutting off the King's Head

    Open Access•Andrew W Neal•Alternatives Global Local Political•2004

  • The securitisation of avian influenza

    Open Access•Melissa Curley, MELISSA G CURLEY et al.•Review of International Studies•2011

  • Welfare Warriors

    Open Access•Deborah Cowen•Antipode•2005

  • Bad Blood

    John S Haller, James H Jones•Journal of American History•1981

  • Exceptionalism and the 'War on Terror

    Claudia Aradau, Rens Van Munster•The British Journal of Criminology•2009

  • Pandemics on the Radar Screen

    Open Access•Stefan Elbe•Political Studies•2011

  • The Chronicle of a Disease Foretold

    Open Access•Thomas Abraham•Political Studies•2011

  • Should HIV/Aids Be Securitized? The Ethical Dilemmas of Linking HIV/Aids and Security

    Open Access•Stefan Elbe•International Studies Quarterly•2006

  • Minding Exceptions

    Open Access•J Huysmans•Contemporary Political Theory•2004

  • Administering Colonial Science

    Ian Mosby•Histoire sociale•2013

  • HIV/Aids and securitization theory

    Open Access•Colin Mcinnes, Simon Rushton•European Journal of International…•2013

  • Securitization and the Construction of Security

    Open Access•Matt Mcdonald•European Journal of International…•2008

  • Security and Immigration

    Open Access•D Bigo•Alternatives Global Local Political•2002

  • Significant Injury

    Jennifer Terry•Women's studies quarterly•2009

  • Global Health and International Relations

    Open Access•Christopher H Foreman•Political Science Quarterly•2013

  • Securitizing infectious disease

    Open Access•Sara E Davies•International Affairs•2008

  • HIV, Aids and security

    Open Access•Colin Mcinnes, Simon Rushton•International Affairs•2010

  • Powers of War

    Open Access•Tarak Barkawi, Shane Brighton•International Political Sociology•2011

  • Victims or Madmen? The Diagnostic Competition over 'Terrorist' Detainees at Guantánamo Bay

    Open Access•Alison Howell•International Political Sociology•2007

Unique citing works45
Citations per year4,09
Citation span2015 - 2026 (12)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 45
Ethnos_APP • Open Source Project • MIT License • Frontend v2.0.0 • Privacy and Cookies • API Documentation: api.ethnos.app/docs • API Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17049435 • Frontend Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17050053 • cruz.rio.br • Expectantes Misericordiae