Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book addresses the gross inadequacies of UK government policy with regard to COVID-19, in that this mounted a seriously compromised defence of public health and thereby caused tens of thousands of avoidable deaths. It seeks to situate the pandemic within the systems of global political economy and their attendant cultural modes in the sense that these not only place severe limitations on government health protection policies in response to pandemics but are also the facilitators or drivers of global pandemic risk. The book theorizes the emergent structures of contemporary global political economy, with a specific emphasis on the politics of the interstate system. It situates the politics of pandemic management within the structures of global political economy. The book outlines the theory that decivilization is an integral aspect of capitalist modernization.