A healthy state? Geopolitics, health, and safety: A keynote presentation for the European Conference of Law Enforcement and Public Health
Law enforcement and public health agencies operate in the context of their national government policies and resources. But improving and protecting health and community safety are made more difficult by four dark geopolitical forces which have been accelerating in recent years. Neoliberalism is dri...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SG Publishing
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Community Safety and Well-Being |
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| Online Access: | http://www.journalcswb.ca/index.php/cswb/article/view/352 |
| _version_ | 1797387151039528960 |
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| author | John D. Middleton |
| author_facet | John D. Middleton |
| author_sort | John D. Middleton |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Law enforcement and public health agencies operate in the context of their national government policies and resources. But improving and protecting health and community safety are made more difficult by four dark geopolitical forces which have been accelerating in recent years. Neoliberalism is driving governments to pursue low tax, low regulation small-state policies and aiding the expansion of uncontrolled globalization and colonialization of health-damaging manufacturing and services by multinational companies. The “Sovereign individuals,” first described in 1997, are the super-rich who have mastery over information technologies to avoid taxes and hide their wealth from governments. The vast offshoring of wealth has led to increasing inequalities in wealth and health, between rich and poor, further adding to civil distrust and unrest. Loss of revenues prevents government funding of health, welfare, and public protection whilst creating greater need for it. To explain the increasing poverty and harshness of life for the masses, there has been a rebirth and rise of populism. This has accelerated political corruption, created culture wars, fomented distrust of others, and added to global political instability. The information revolution has influenced all of these: it has created its own dark geopolitical force through the explosion of social media and industrial disinformation undermining individual critical thinking and democratic processes. Law enforcement and public health agencies face the consequences of these dark forces in their daily work, but they also need to understand more and develop more effective partnership responses to counter the worst excesses of the new geopolitical realities.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T22:20:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d96c22dae02c40408f9d6497e0ea97d9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2371-4298 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T22:20:42Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | SG Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Community Safety and Well-Being |
| spelling | doaj.art-d96c22dae02c40408f9d6497e0ea97d92023-12-18T13:52:07ZengSG PublishingJournal of Community Safety and Well-Being2371-42982023-12-018410.35502/jcswb.352A healthy state? Geopolitics, health, and safety: A keynote presentation for the European Conference of Law Enforcement and Public HealthJohn D. Middleton0Honorary Professor of Public Health, Wolverhampton University, United Kingdom; Visiting Professor of Public Health, Chester University, United Kingdom; Vice President, Global Network for Academic Public Health (GNAPH), Washington DC, United States; Immediate Past President, Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER), Brussels, Belgium. Law enforcement and public health agencies operate in the context of their national government policies and resources. But improving and protecting health and community safety are made more difficult by four dark geopolitical forces which have been accelerating in recent years. Neoliberalism is driving governments to pursue low tax, low regulation small-state policies and aiding the expansion of uncontrolled globalization and colonialization of health-damaging manufacturing and services by multinational companies. The “Sovereign individuals,” first described in 1997, are the super-rich who have mastery over information technologies to avoid taxes and hide their wealth from governments. The vast offshoring of wealth has led to increasing inequalities in wealth and health, between rich and poor, further adding to civil distrust and unrest. Loss of revenues prevents government funding of health, welfare, and public protection whilst creating greater need for it. To explain the increasing poverty and harshness of life for the masses, there has been a rebirth and rise of populism. This has accelerated political corruption, created culture wars, fomented distrust of others, and added to global political instability. The information revolution has influenced all of these: it has created its own dark geopolitical force through the explosion of social media and industrial disinformation undermining individual critical thinking and democratic processes. Law enforcement and public health agencies face the consequences of these dark forces in their daily work, but they also need to understand more and develop more effective partnership responses to counter the worst excesses of the new geopolitical realities. http://www.journalcswb.ca/index.php/cswb/article/view/352Neoliberalismcommercial determinants of healthpublic healthcommunity safetysovereign individualsoffshoring |
| spellingShingle | John D. Middleton A healthy state? Geopolitics, health, and safety: A keynote presentation for the European Conference of Law Enforcement and Public Health Journal of Community Safety and Well-Being Neoliberalism commercial determinants of health public health community safety sovereign individuals offshoring |
| title | A healthy state? Geopolitics, health, and safety: A keynote presentation for the European Conference of Law Enforcement and Public Health |
| title_full | A healthy state? Geopolitics, health, and safety: A keynote presentation for the European Conference of Law Enforcement and Public Health |
| title_fullStr | A healthy state? Geopolitics, health, and safety: A keynote presentation for the European Conference of Law Enforcement and Public Health |
| title_full_unstemmed | A healthy state? Geopolitics, health, and safety: A keynote presentation for the European Conference of Law Enforcement and Public Health |
| title_short | A healthy state? Geopolitics, health, and safety: A keynote presentation for the European Conference of Law Enforcement and Public Health |
| title_sort | healthy state geopolitics health and safety a keynote presentation for the european conference of law enforcement and public health |
| topic | Neoliberalism commercial determinants of health public health community safety sovereign individuals offshoring |
| url | http://www.journalcswb.ca/index.php/cswb/article/view/352 |
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