Mara Linden

Global health in crisis? Global health politics between economic rationalities, securitization and crisis response

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, health has become a central topic in both policy and research. In her dissertation project, Mara also looks at COVID-19, although she sees the pandemic in line with general developments in global health. In the past few decades, global health politics has been characterized by shifts and restructurings sustainably changing and modifying the field. Under restructurings, such as a securitization as well as economization, health is treated as a biopolitical issue as well as intertwined with economic and political security. COVID-19 as a “burning lens” has emphasized the previous changes: Questions of public health, conditions of globalisation such as trade and tourism, and restrictions in daily life are being negotiated in a new / different form than before.

Global health is here understood as an assemblage framed by different actors, knowledges, rationalities, technologies and practices. In this framework, Mara is posing questions such as: What socio-political rationalities can be observed in global health politics in Germany? How are they framed in socio-technical apparatuses, technologies and regulations – how is global health politics framed, e.g., in strategies and policy papers, and by which decisions is this influenced?

• Bartl, G., Hardt, J. N., Suttner, S., Linden, M., Ventura, R. A., Vogler, A., … Melcher, F. (2024). Rethinking Governance in Times of Multiple Crises. Vigoni Papers, 2023(5), 1–23.
• Linden, M. & van de Pas, R. (2024). The Political Determinants of Health – 10 Years On. International Health Policies Blog. https://www.internationalhealthpolicies.org/featured-article/the-political-determinants-of-health-10-years-on/
• Linden, M. (2022). Rezension zu Kevin Hall (2021) Viren im Blick. Überwachung und Sichtbarkeit der Influenza in Deutschland (Campus Verlag). Newsletter AK MedGeo, 2022(7), 9-10.
• Linden, M. (2020). Auswirkungen der Pandemie: Gesundheitskrise, Ökonomie und Ungleichheit. Geographica Helvetica, 75(3), 307–313. https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-75-307-2020
• Linden, M. (2020). Globale Gesundheitspolitik und Ökonomie. Ein Beitrag zur Reihe “Sicherheit in der Krise." Soziopolis. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-81968-1

• 22.09.2023: „Globale Gesundheit regierbar machen? Politische Umgangsweisen zwischen Krisenintervention und nachhaltiger Planung“ [Making global health governable? Political processes between crisis intervention and sustainable planning]. German Congress for Geography 2023: Planetary Futures, 19.-23.09.2023, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
• 16.09.2023: „Global health security after COVID-19: Pandemic preparedness, security and economics”. Global Health Summer School and Conference IPPNW & medico, 16.09.2023, Berlin, Germany.
• 27.01.2023: „Zeit, Temperatur, Impfstoff: Die sozio-technischen Herausforderungen der COVID-Impfstoffspenden“ [Time, temperature, vaccines: the socio-technical challenges to COVID vaccine donations]. Neue Kulturgeographie, 26.-28.01.2023, Halle (Saale), Germany.
• 23.09.2022: „Gesundheitssicherheit, Gesundheitsschutz und Pandemic Preparedness“ [Health security, health protection and pandemic preparedness]. Annual Meeting Arbeitskreis Medizinische Geographie und Geographische Gesundheitsforschung, 22.-24.09.2022, Bonn, Germany.
• 10.06.2022: „Critical Logistics: Vaccine stockpiles, donations and their missing links“. Global Conference on Economic Geography, 7.-10.06.2022, Dublin, Ireland.
• 08.10.2021: „Gesundheitsschutz oder Gesundheitssicherheit? Rationalitäten und Praktiken der globalen Gesundheit“ [Health protection or health security? Rationalities and practices of global health]. #GeoWoche2021 (virtual conference German geographical society), 05.-09.10.2021 (online).
• 19.08.2020: “Securitizing Global Health – Global Health Politics Between Preparedness, Security and Economy”. Joint Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) and the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology, 18.-21.08.2020, virtually in Prague, Czech Republic.
• 08.07.2020: “Globale Gesundheitspolitik zwischen ökonomischer Rationalität und Regieren im Ausnahmezustand” [Global health politics between economic rationality and governing in a state of exception] (with Peter Lindner). Online Symposium: COVID-19 als Zäsur? Geographische Perspektiven auf Räume, Gesellschaften und Technologien in der Pandemie [COVID-19 as a caesura? Geographical perspectives on spaces, societies and technologies in the pandemic], 06.-08.07.2020 (online).
• 29.09.2019: “Financial Literacy as Empowerment? The OECD and its promotion of financial literacy for women as a form of coordination between states and markets”. German Congress for Geography 2019, 25.-30.09.2019, Kiel, Germany.

Summer term 2024:
Viren, Staub und Hitze: Qualitative Untersuchungen zu Gesundheit und Luft [Viruses, dust and heat: qualitative analysis on heath and air] (with Till Straube)

Previous terms:

• Seminar: Debt crisis in the Global South? Perspectives on the international debt architecture (with Ilja Fragin, winter 2023/24)
• Seminar: Geographies of health / Health Geographies (summer 2021, 2022, 2023)
• Seminar and field trip: Birmingham – Britain after Brexit (summer 2020, 2023)
• Seminar: Economic geographical perspectives on crises (summer 2020, 2019)
• Colloquium: Research seminar BA thesis (summer 2020, winter 2020/21, winter 2021/22, summer 2022)
• Reading seminar: Corona, Crises, and the New Economics of Global Health (winter 2020/21)
• Reading seminar: Smart Transitions? Urban Geography in Times of the Digital Turn (summer 2019)