Emergency Powers in a Time of Pandemic

by Alan Greene

How do we maintain core values and rights when governments impose restrictive measures on our lives? Declaring a state of emergency is the best way to protect public health in a pandemic but how do these powers differ from those for national security and economic crises? This book explores how human rights, democracy and the rule of law can be protected during a pandemic and how emergency powers can best be ended once it wanes. Written by an expert on constitutional law and human rights, this accessible book will shape how governments, opposition, courts and society as a whole view future pandemic emergency powers.

184 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 29, 2020

Reviews

[Ne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was extremely interesting to read approximately three years after the Covid-19 pandemic was declared, when states were groping about in the dark. It drew parallels (and highlighted differences) between the pandemic and the war on terror, which was insightful. And it referred to many things that indeed came to pass, such as immunity (vaccine) passports. Finally, it urges long-term contingency planning that can be properly scrutinised by the relevant branches of government, but -- alas! -- countries do not seem to have learned much from the pandemic in this respect.