Biopolitics and public health in times of crisis

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has renewed attention to the entanglement of politics, health, and the governance of life. Measures such as lockdowns, vaccination campaigns, digital contact tracing, and quarantine protocols reveal that public health policy operates not merely as a technical or medical response, but as a form of political power acting directly upon bodies and populations. By examining how states enacted exceptional measures under conditions of crisis, this paper highlights both the potency and the fragility of sovereign control. Comparative case studies demonstrate how legal frameworks, political cultures, and ideological assumptions shape not only policy responses but also the differential valuation of life during health emergencies. Ultimately, the article argues that public health crises are not solely biomedical events, but deeply political phenomena.