Reactions to pandemics are unlike any other global emergency; with an emphasis on withdrawal and containment of the sight of the infected. Dealing with the historical and conceptual background of diseases in politics and international relations, this volume investigates the global political reaction to pandemic scares. By evaluating anxiety and the political response to pandemics as a legitimisation of the modern state and its ability to protect its citizens from infectious disease, Understanding the Politics of Pandemic Scares examines the connection between international health governance and the emerging Western liberal world order.

Mika Aaltola is Academy Fellow, The Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Finland.

1. Introduction 2. Containments and Compassions of Pandemic Dramas 3. Understanding the Vortex of War and Disease 4. Trajectory of a Pandemic Drama: Ebbing and Waning of the BSE Crisis in 1996 5. Vortexes of SARS: Anxieties over Global Air Mobility 6. The Pandemic Geography of Avian Flu 7. Beyond Global Public Health