Processes of Securitization of Infections Diseases and Western Hegemonic Power
Ricardo Pereira
There is a generalized consensus today that major infectious diseases became global security issues. David Fidler considers it a recent, “revolutionary”1 process intimately connected to post-September 11 and post-2003 SARS2 outbreaks. In this article I introduce a perspective aimed at deepening Fidler’s view. Drawing from Michel Foucault’s analytics of power, I review the ramifications between epidemics’ securitization and reinforcement of Western hegemonic liberal power after the Cold War through the human security paradigm. Rather than recent, this securitization proceeds from the colonial dominance system to which epidemiological surveillance and public hygiene were instrumental.