Péter Marton 
Ethical Failures of the COVID-19 Pandemic Response [PDF ebook] 

This book draws attention to the non-biological—political, economic, societal and cultural—variables shaping both the emergence and persistence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global response to it, with a particular focus on political decisionmakers’ role in the domestic and international politics surrounding the process of the pandemic. The book identifies the strategic and underlying ethical failures of decision making, using a process-tracing approach to reconstruct considerations, decisions and actions by key leaders—interested in thus weaving a global narrative of the response. The author highlights key speech acts, and interprets the causal implications embedded in a chronological and contextualised appraisal of events, statements and public health measures. The book further discusses the normative ethics of pandemic response, and presents lessons drawn from the present experience. It also offers a normative analysis taking into consideration pre-pandemic guidelines for response, including in the literature of public health ethics and pandemic preparedness plans.

Table of Content

Chapter 1: Introduction and Analytic Framework.- Part I: War on Paper.- Chapter 2: Ethics in Governance: Pandemic Response as a Vital Interest.- Chapter 3: The Ethics of Response to Plague on Distant Shores.- Chapter 4: The Ethics of Practices in Pandemic Response.- Part II: Friction.- Chapter 5: The Need/Failure to Prepare and Prevent.- Chapter 6: The Need/Failure to Anticipate and Pre-empt.- Chapter 7: The Need/Failure to React, Adequately Prioritise and Persevere.- Chapter 8: The Need/Failure to Honestly Account and Take Responsibility.- Chapter 9: Lessons, Recommendations, Conclusion.

About the author

Péter Marton is Associate Professor at Corvinus University, and Adjunct Professor at Mc Daniel College, Budapest, Hungary.