ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a historical perspective on the securitization of infectious diseases by considering Europe's experience of epidemics over the past five centuries. The concept of 'human security' was advanced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) after the end of the Cold War as an alternative 'people-centric' account of security that would privilege the needs and welfare of individuals as they go about their daily lives. The ban marks the first strategy for protecting societies and communities from infectious disease in a historical context in which such diseases were always already securitized. The quarantine was another strategy for dealing with infectious diseases pioneered prior to the twentieth century. The power of modern medicine has also catapulted medical professionals to the status of one of the most influential and highly regarded social groups in Western societies. The same is true in relation to continuing security concerns about the threat of bioterrorism.
