Emergency Regimes for Global Health: Law, Policy, and Institutions

This book examines the role of international, European and domestic responses to SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) in accelerating and solidifying trends of securitisation and public-private hybridisation in public health. It explores the broader legal, policy and institutional implications of the WHO declaration of a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) and the implementation of subsequent WHO recommendations for medical and non-medical countermeasures. Tracing the trends of securitisation and public-private hybridisation up to the amendments to the International Health Regulations 2024 and the new Pandemic Agreement 2025, leading scholars evaluate whether emergency responses to Covid-19 aligned with human rights law and democratic governance. Chapters address key challenges including the centralisation, uniformisation and commodification of infectious disease management, the reliance on public-private partnerships, an increase of domestic executive authority, and the reduction of judicial control and maintaining accountability. The book contemplates alternative legal and institutional approaches to pandemic preparedness and responses. Emergency Regimes for Global Health is a valuable resource for legal scholars, students and practitioners specialising in health and medical law, the law of international organisations, human rights and domestic constitutional law.