GLOBE4512 – The Politics of Pandemics
Course content
The covid-19 pandemic was the biggest crisis the world has faced in a century, impacting everyone’s lives, everywhere in the world. Recent studies indicate a 50% likelihood of a pandemic of similar magnitude by 2050. While pandemics are primarily understood as health-related crises stemming from the spread of infectious diseases, they also possess deeply political dimensions, impacting public policy, international relations, and global inequality.
This one-week intensive course delves into the political dimensions of pandemics, drawing on examples from the Covid-19 pandemic and other significant outbreaks like Ebola, Mpox, pandemic influenza, and cholera. It will incorporate political, anthropological, historical, sociological and ethical perspectives to foster a comprehensive understanding of the politics of pandemics.
The course covers the social determinants of pandemic, global pandemic governance, the role of the pharmaceutical and technology sectors and considers whether the Covid-19 pandemic has made us better prepared for future health crises.
Learning outcome
By taking this course, you will:?
- Understand the main political challenges posed by pandemics at local, national and global levels.
- Learn about the complexity of policymaking on an issue involving experts in public health, development aid, emergency responses, military, diplomacy, and public-private partnerships, etc.
- Understand the role of the global pharmaceutical and technology sectors in shaping pandemic response and outcomes
- Obtain a nuanced understanding of the competing political and financial interests at play.
- Understand the need for interdisciplinary approaches to study and address pandemic preparedness.
Admission to the course
You may apply to be a guest student at GLOBE. Please follow these instructions.
Formal prerequisite knowledge
A bachelors degree.?
Recommended previous knowledge
Specialization equivalent to at least 80 ECTS within subjects from the humanities or social sciences, sustainable development, or equivalent relevant subjects.
Teaching
This one-week intensive course will feature five main themes, explored each day through two lectures (09:15-10:00 and 10:15-11:00) and a seminar (13:15-14:00). The main lecturers will be Katerini Storeng, Vyoma Dhar Sharma and Antoine de Bengy Puyvallée from GLOBE’s Global Health Politics research group and the Health, Environment and Climate thematic area. We will also invite external guest lecturers for short presentations complementing our lectures. The seminar will be an occasion for students to reflect on the lectures and readings through small group discussions and class exercises.
Attendance in lectures and seminars is mandatory, and active participation in class is both expected and encouraged. You must have an attendance of 80% to be eligible to take the exam.
Day 1 dives into the social determinants of pandemics, questioning how gender, race, class, poverty, housing, working conditions, or age impact our vulnerabilities to pandemics and shape disparate health outcomes. We will discuss how these factors play out in different countries, and how the local context, culture, economic and political system shaped pandemic responses at sub-national and national levels.
Day 2 will analyze pandemic preparedness as a major global governance challenge which involves public-private partnerships between governmental and intergovernmental agencies like the World Health Organization, military, non-governmental, and for-profit companies, each with different motivations, resources and priorities. We will focus particularly on the global covid response and how it exacerbated power-asymmetries globally, fueling a brewing crisis of multilateralism.
During days 3 and 4, we will focus on the role of two specific technologies in pandemic response: pharmaceuticals such as vaccines, tests and treatments; and digital technologies. We will examine how these tools are developed, financed, tested, purchased and distributed, and finally received or used by people.
On day 5, we will discuss current pandemic preparedness efforts such as the global Pandemic Agreement and ask: Is the world better prepared for the next pandemic?
Examination
The examination will consist of an individual oral exam that lasts for 15 minutes. The students will be assigned a topic on the day of the exam and have 30 minutes to prepare a 5-10-minute presentation. This will be followed by a discussion with the examiners. The language of examination will be English.
Language of examination
The examination text is given in English, and you submit your response in English.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.
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