The Invisible Attacker: Pandemics as a Threat to
National Security
Pandemics are a direct threat to national, human,
economic, and global security. Diseases have existed since before recorded
history and are an ever-evolving part of human life. Disease and illness have
no political ties or national borders. Pandemics are something that can affect
anyone and everyone regardless of nationality or ethnicity. A pandemic is
classified as a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area like a country
or globally and affects large amount of the population. In our emerging globalized
world, the spread of disease is a far more present threat than ever before. Therefore,
what once might have only been a threat to small communities or individual
countries and continents can now be an almost immediate threat to a global
nation.
The hardest part about dealing with pandemics is that
unlike other security threats there is no clear acting agent that is causing
the threat. For example, with security threats like terrorism, there is almost
always an actor that can be physically stopped or prevented from creating
terror and threatening security. Even at a deeper level, the ideologies behind
those who commit terrorist attacks can be debated and prevented from turning
into a physical worldly problem. For pandemics, the threat to security is not
one that we can send armies to fight or use intelligence to prevent. They often
occur in undeveloped countries and spread without control until it is globally
affecting others. While there are ways to stop pandemics at the core, they are
often more of an idea than they are able to affect change. This is due to the
fact that they originate in underdeveloped communities that are unable to take
early stage preventative measures and might not have access to outside help to
instigate those measures either. Pandemics often originate and spread to affect
far too many people before they can be handled efficiently and therefore are a
threat to global security through the extent of people and places they can
affect and in the short amount of time that they spread. In an article by the UN Chronicles, they
argued that the global threat of pandemics often stem from these underdeveloped
countries and their inability to offer healthcare to their subjects. It said
that, “the
global threat posed by pandemics required a global approach to security as the
rapid transmission of disease in a globalized world means that capacity
failures in any member State could place any other state or society in peril.”
This meaning that any threat to any nation state is a threat to global security
and a pandemic is a perfect example of how one threats to state security can
directly affect national and human security.
Once a pandemic is dealt with and resolved, there are
still overarching consequences that continue to distress those who were
affected by the pandemic. Some of the most apparent of those consequences are
the almost immediate decline in economic revenue. This indirect effect on the
economic stability of the people, places, and even things involved or affected
by the pandemic is a threat to the stability and security of the region
affected. For example, in areas in which pandemics have originated or occurred,
tourism rates drop immensely. People globally often blame the regions in which
pandemics occur and avoid traveling there at least until the pandemic is no
longer affecting the global community. For places struggling economically,
these tourism profits could be the only thing that is truly supporting the
economy so a pandemic can be entirely detrimental to a country or region’s
economic security. Without economic
security, the security of those in the state is affected and long term national
security is also at stake. While pandemics might not appear to be as much of a
national security threat as a terrorist attack, or war, they have very detrimental
effects that can eventually affect those involved. Pandemics are in fact a
threat to security and one of the most insecure threats there is because of the
inability to stop them before they occur and that once they do occur, treating
them can take an unknown amount of time and effort to undo the pandemics outcomes.
I really like how you highlighted how in the nations which often spawn these pandemic diseases, the global community often responds by condemning and creating hysteria around their geographic locations. Like you mentioned, I think people often forget that pandemic diseases can start anywhere and attack anyone, and making the global community afraid to travel or to do business with these often already struggling nations like Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Libera only makes conditions worse for the country and the people living there. I like how you mentioned the trickle down effect of the breakdown of economic security leading to a breakdown of national security. Pandemics truly are unique in their ability to catch the global community by surprise, but hopefully as our technology keeps advancing we will develop new ways to prevent, detect, and control future pandemics.
ReplyDeleteI thought that your blog was well thought out and constructed. It seemed that you were alluding to some of the things that Bill Gates was talking about in his Ted Talk that we watched in class. I feel as though, because pandemics are such a global issue, and cannot be fought off by the mobilization of the military, that it might be beneficial to create an international body that works to combat diseases. Especially since, as you mentioned, most diseases begin in underdeveloped countries that don't have the capabilities and do not know how to address them. I think that creating a reporting system would also be helpful, so that other countries are aware of the problems that may be starting in one country. Working together in global unity is going to be the best and most efficient way to combat pandemics in the future and we need to figure out how to do that now to really protect our safety and security.
ReplyDeleteI agree that pandemics are a security issue; however, unlike aspects of human security or even national security, pandemics are much harder to consolidate and combat as there are many unknown variables to illness. When one person is ill, it almost creates a domino effect where trying to decrease the spread becomes almost impossible. I also found your argument interesting in stating that even when a pandemic ends other repercussions, good or bad, can occur. The threat of pandemics deal with more of a greater issue to public health for all, especially those in third world countries. With the earthquake in Haiti, for example, diseases were more prone to civilians after the damage occurred, but because a lack of vaccines within adolescence, many became victim to uncontrollable epidemics. Public health policies becomes a major security threat especially in countries that lack the proper medications necessary in a person's childhood.
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