Abstract
As this book demonstrates, the construction of a scientific ‘fact’, such as an H1N1 pandemic, is a product of multiple social forces and relations. In the context of scientific uncertainty, institutional decisions regarding risk management must occur despite a scarcity of evidence. This need to act upon the perceived threat, combined with the presence of a multiplicity of perspectives surrounding contemporary global risks, served to render the WHO’s risk management actor network fragile and open to interpretation and critique. This chapter presents a case study of one prominent institutional challenge to the actions of the WHO in managing H1N1 — the critique mounted by the Council of Europe. Politically, the Council of Europe challenged the WHO’s use of vaccines as a risk-management strategy. However, as this I argue, such a critique was only made possible through the contestation of fundamental aspects of the ‘science’ of H1N1. Sociologically, I demonstrate the fragility of the H1N1 actor network through an illustration of the Council of Europe’s contestation. I furthermore demonstrate the democratized nature of contemporary science, where an outside actor — the Council of Europe — was able to impinge upon the WHO’s internal institutional processes.
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© 2015 Sudeepa Abeysinghe
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Abeysinghe, S. (2015). Contestation and the Council of Europe. In: Pandemics, Science and Policy. Palgrave Studies in Science, Knowledge and Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137467201_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137467201_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-49997-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-46720-1
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