Viral Sovereignty and the Political Economy of Pandemics

"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

"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 country’s ability to detect and address emerging disease and to share that information regionally and internationally."

Robert Martin, MPH, DrPH, Professor Emeritus, Department of Global Health, University of Washington

"Few scholars of emerging infectious diseases understand the complexities of managing viral disease outbreaks more thoroughly than Sophal Ear, whose on-the-ground insights over the past decade have benefited the public health community in incalculable ways. In this timely and important book on the political economy of pandemics, he elaborates the concept of ‘viral sovereignty,’ a framework for policymaking that not only addresses managing disease outbreaks once they occur but also suggests strategies for proactively building effective public health institutions and surveillance systems to contain disease spread so the world health community can avoid more devastating global pandemics. Viral Sovereignty is a must read for anyone interested in improving the quality of public health internationally."

Erik P. Bucy, Marshall and Sharleen Formby Regents Professor of Strategic Communication, Texas Tech University, and former editor, Politics and the Life Sciences

"Once again, Professor Sophal Ear connects his rigorous academic approach with his unique insights into the political, economic, and human costs of global disease. Using curated case studies, he argues for continuous and generalized infectious disease surveillance, particularly in countries of the Global South where the next major pandemic is likely to originate. Ear discusses nuances of viral sovereignty, put forth by Indonesia during the H5N1 avian influenza outbreak, refusing to share its precious virus samples without guarantees of access to treatments or vaccines developed using those strains. Sharing of isolates, of course, should be part of a global mutual benefit agreement, but as illustrated by China's recent lack of transparency and outright interference with WHO's investigation of the origin of SARS-CoV-2, has become a political-economic bargaining chip. Prof. Ear explains why local and international cooperation is necessary, and how misinformation and mistrust undermine the rapid and effective responses critical to containment of future global health threats. He supports arguments for enforcement in addition to voluntary goodwill. In this book, Prof. Ear presents recommendations for global leaders from both resource-rich and resource-poor countries to manage their investments in health care systems before the next disease emerges."

Ellen Jo Baron, PhD, D(ABMM), F(AAM), F(IDSA), Professor Emerita, Stanford University