PANDEMIC INFLUENZA, A THREAT TO INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
PANDEMIC INFLUENZA, A THREAT TO INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

Author(s): Mihaiela BUȘE
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Social Sciences, Sociology, International relations/trade, Security and defense, Health and medicine and law
Published by: Carol I National Defence University Publishing House
Keywords: pandemic influenza; national security strategy; security threat; United States-European Union collaboration;
Summary/Abstract: The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the international community, causing a terrible shock among people everywhere. An invisible enemy that has spread all over the globe and left behind death and suffering, lockdown, unemployment, weakened national economies, a whole new depressing and frightening reality. Were there any other pandemics? Could this pandemic have been better managed? Has this threat been identified in national security strategies? Did the states act separately or unitarily? After almost two years, were there lessons learned? I reviewed the US national security strategies from 1987 to 2021 in order to see if the pandemics were mentioned as threats to the security of the American people. Then I did the same with Romania's last two security strategies. I looked for documents that showed the interest of states for the consequences of a pandemic similar with the one in 1918, which would show that pandemics were perceived as security threats before theCovid-19 pandemic broke out. I also looked for concrete actions of the states for the management of a pandemic, pandemic preparedness plans. I also highlighted the challenges states were facing following the outbreak of theCovid-19 pandemic in the medical field and in the economy. Although the management of the pandemic was initially a race against the clock, each country trying to cope with the large number of people hospitalized and lacking medical equipment, it later became clear that cooperation between states and organizations and mutual aid is the solution to get out faster from this health crisis.

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