Andreas Papamichail | Queen Mary, University of London (original) (raw)

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Papers by Andreas Papamichail

Ethics & International Affairs

The COVID-19 pandemic has been shaped by preexisting political, social, and economic relations an... more The COVID-19 pandemic has been shaped by preexisting political, social, and economic relations and governance structures, and will remold these structures going forward. This review essay considers three books on global health politics written by Simon Rushton, Clare Wenham, and Jeremy Youde. Here, I explore what these books collectively and individually can tell us about these preexisting dynamics, the events of the first eighteen months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and possible future directions in the politics of global health. I argue that they provide a firm basis for understanding the inequitable burdens of the pandemic, while juxtaposing these inequities against the narratives of shared vulnerability that sit at the heart of the global health security regime. They also help us make sense of the surveillance, detection, containment, and response mechanisms we have seen during the pandemic; the failures to address the systemic dynamics that drive disease outbreaks; and the nationa...

International Studies Review

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected virtually every aspect of life, for individuals, communities, ... more The COVID-19 pandemic has affected virtually every aspect of life, for individuals, communities, nations, regions, and the international system. In this forum, scholars from around the world with diverse areas of expertise consider the contributions of international relations (IR) scholarship in our understanding of the politics and governance challenges surrounding the pandemic. The seven essays that follow together examine how our current state of knowledge speaks to the theme of ISA 2020: “Multiple Identities and Scholarship in a Global IR: One Profession, Many Voices.” Each essay features a research area and body of scholarship that both informs our understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic and reflects on how the pandemic challenges us to push our scholarship and intellectual community further. Together, these essays highlight the diversity of our discipline of IR and how its many voices may bring us together in one conversation. La pandemia de COVID-19 ha afectado prácticamente a...

Conflict and Health

Background: Conflicts pose new challenges for health systems, requiring rapid and practical appro... more Background: Conflicts pose new challenges for health systems, requiring rapid and practical approaches to meet emerging needs on the ground. Lebanon has been highly influenced by surrounding conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, especially the Syrian crisis. Strengthening research capacity to collect evidence on conflict in the MENA region and beyond is crucial to inform healthcare policy and practice. For targeted capacity strengthening interventions, the main objective of this paper is to present key findings of a needs assessment of conflict and health research in Lebanon. This will support recent efforts to scale up context-specific policies, interventions to strengthen the country's health system, and research capacity.

Globalization and Health

Background In conflict settings, research capacities have often been de-prioritized as resources ... more Background In conflict settings, research capacities have often been de-prioritized as resources are diverted to emergency needs, such as addressing elevated morbidity, mortality and health system challenges directly and/or indirectly associated to war. This has had an adverse long-term impact in such protracted conflicts such as those found in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA), where research knowledge and skills have often been compromised. In this paper, we propose a conceptual framework for health research capacity strengthening that adapts existing models and frameworks in low- and middle-income countries and uses our knowledge of the MENA context to contextualise them for conflict settings. Methods The framework was synthesized using “best fit” framework synthesis methodology. Relevant literature, available in English and Arabic, was collected through PubMed, Google Scholar and Google using the keywords: capacity building; capacity strengthening; health research; ...

Globalization and Health

Background In conflict settings, research capacities have often been de-prioritized as resources ... more Background In conflict settings, research capacities have often been de-prioritized as resources are diverted to emergency needs, such as addressing elevated morbidity, mortality and health system challenges directly and/or indirectly associated to war. This has had an adverse long-term impact in such protracted conflicts such as those found in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA), where research knowledge and skills have often been compromised. In this paper, we propose a conceptual framework for health research capacity strengthening that adapts existing models and frameworks in low- and middle-income countries and uses our knowledge of the MENA context to contextualise them for conflict settings. Methods The framework was synthesized using “best fit” framework synthesis methodology. Relevant literature, available in English and Arabic, was collected through PubMed, Google Scholar and Google using the keywords: capacity building; capacity strengthening; health research; ...

Globalization and Health, 2019

Conducting health research in conflict-affected areas and other complex environments is difficult... more Conducting health research in conflict-affected areas and other complex environments is difficult, yet vital. However, the capacity to undertake such research is often limited and with little translation into practice, particularly in poorer countries. There is therefore a need to strengthen health research capacity in conflict-affected countries and regions. In this narrative review, we draw together evidence from low and middle-income countries to highlight challenges to research capacity strengthening in conflict, as well as examples of good practice. We find that authorship trends in health research indicate global imbalances in research capacity, with implications for the type and priorities of research produced, equity within epistemic communities and the development of sustainable research capacity in low and middle-income countries. Yet, there is little evidence on what constitutes effective health research capacity strengthening in conflict-affected areas. There is more evidence on health research capacity strengthening in general, from which several key enablers emerge: adequate and sustained financing; effective stewardship and equitable research partnerships; mentorship of researchers of all levels; and effective linkages of research to policy and practice. Strengthening health research capacity in conflict-affected areas needs to occur at multiple levels to ensure sustainability and equity. Capacity strengthening interventions need to take into consideration the dynamics of conflict, power dynamics within research collaborations, the potential impact of technology, and the wider political environment in which they take place.

There has been increased interest in whether “South-­‐South” co-­ operation by Brazil, Russia, In... more There has been increased interest in whether “South-­‐South” co-­ operation by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) advances more equitable initiatives for global health. This article examines the extent to which resolutions, commitments, agreements and strategies from BRICS and Brazil, India and China (BIC) address regionally articulated policy concerns for health systems in East and Southern Africa (ESA) within areas of resource mobilization, research and development and local production of medicines, and training and retention of health workers. The study reviewed published literature and implemented a content analysis on these areas in official BRICS and ESA regional policy documents between 2007 and 2014. The study found encouraging signals of shared policy values and mutuality of interest, especially on medicines access, although with less evidence of operational commitments and potential divergence of interest on how to achieve shared goals. The findings indicate that African interests on health systems are being integrated into south-­‐south BRICS and BIC platforms. It also signals, however, that ESA countries need to proactively ensure that these partnerships are true to normative aims of mutual benefit, operationalize investments and programs to translate policy commitments into practice and strengthen accountability around their implementation.

International Politics, 2016

This article examines the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) and its invocation of common humanity.... more This article examines the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) and its invocation of common humanity. It argues that the RtoP needs the normative weight and work of the notion of common humanity in order to be framed as a common response to atrocity crimes. It further suggests that such a framing process points to a shift in the doctrine's possible remit and accessibility which offers the potential for improvement, even in the face of legitimate critique and practical failure. The act of framing the doctrine as common opens up a shared discursive space, in which a communal language, platform and mandate allows for the enduring dilemmas of intervention and the enduring problem of conscience-shocking crimes against humanity to be more collectively engaged with. Thus, despite its failings, this framing of the RtoP offers avenues for enhanced empathy, legitimacy and efficacy.

Reports by Andreas Papamichail

Ethics & International Affairs

The COVID-19 pandemic has been shaped by preexisting political, social, and economic relations an... more The COVID-19 pandemic has been shaped by preexisting political, social, and economic relations and governance structures, and will remold these structures going forward. This review essay considers three books on global health politics written by Simon Rushton, Clare Wenham, and Jeremy Youde. Here, I explore what these books collectively and individually can tell us about these preexisting dynamics, the events of the first eighteen months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and possible future directions in the politics of global health. I argue that they provide a firm basis for understanding the inequitable burdens of the pandemic, while juxtaposing these inequities against the narratives of shared vulnerability that sit at the heart of the global health security regime. They also help us make sense of the surveillance, detection, containment, and response mechanisms we have seen during the pandemic; the failures to address the systemic dynamics that drive disease outbreaks; and the nationa...

International Studies Review

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected virtually every aspect of life, for individuals, communities, ... more The COVID-19 pandemic has affected virtually every aspect of life, for individuals, communities, nations, regions, and the international system. In this forum, scholars from around the world with diverse areas of expertise consider the contributions of international relations (IR) scholarship in our understanding of the politics and governance challenges surrounding the pandemic. The seven essays that follow together examine how our current state of knowledge speaks to the theme of ISA 2020: “Multiple Identities and Scholarship in a Global IR: One Profession, Many Voices.” Each essay features a research area and body of scholarship that both informs our understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic and reflects on how the pandemic challenges us to push our scholarship and intellectual community further. Together, these essays highlight the diversity of our discipline of IR and how its many voices may bring us together in one conversation. La pandemia de COVID-19 ha afectado prácticamente a...

Conflict and Health

Background: Conflicts pose new challenges for health systems, requiring rapid and practical appro... more Background: Conflicts pose new challenges for health systems, requiring rapid and practical approaches to meet emerging needs on the ground. Lebanon has been highly influenced by surrounding conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, especially the Syrian crisis. Strengthening research capacity to collect evidence on conflict in the MENA region and beyond is crucial to inform healthcare policy and practice. For targeted capacity strengthening interventions, the main objective of this paper is to present key findings of a needs assessment of conflict and health research in Lebanon. This will support recent efforts to scale up context-specific policies, interventions to strengthen the country's health system, and research capacity.

Globalization and Health

Background In conflict settings, research capacities have often been de-prioritized as resources ... more Background In conflict settings, research capacities have often been de-prioritized as resources are diverted to emergency needs, such as addressing elevated morbidity, mortality and health system challenges directly and/or indirectly associated to war. This has had an adverse long-term impact in such protracted conflicts such as those found in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA), where research knowledge and skills have often been compromised. In this paper, we propose a conceptual framework for health research capacity strengthening that adapts existing models and frameworks in low- and middle-income countries and uses our knowledge of the MENA context to contextualise them for conflict settings. Methods The framework was synthesized using “best fit” framework synthesis methodology. Relevant literature, available in English and Arabic, was collected through PubMed, Google Scholar and Google using the keywords: capacity building; capacity strengthening; health research; ...

Globalization and Health

Background In conflict settings, research capacities have often been de-prioritized as resources ... more Background In conflict settings, research capacities have often been de-prioritized as resources are diverted to emergency needs, such as addressing elevated morbidity, mortality and health system challenges directly and/or indirectly associated to war. This has had an adverse long-term impact in such protracted conflicts such as those found in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA), where research knowledge and skills have often been compromised. In this paper, we propose a conceptual framework for health research capacity strengthening that adapts existing models and frameworks in low- and middle-income countries and uses our knowledge of the MENA context to contextualise them for conflict settings. Methods The framework was synthesized using “best fit” framework synthesis methodology. Relevant literature, available in English and Arabic, was collected through PubMed, Google Scholar and Google using the keywords: capacity building; capacity strengthening; health research; ...

Globalization and Health, 2019

Conducting health research in conflict-affected areas and other complex environments is difficult... more Conducting health research in conflict-affected areas and other complex environments is difficult, yet vital. However, the capacity to undertake such research is often limited and with little translation into practice, particularly in poorer countries. There is therefore a need to strengthen health research capacity in conflict-affected countries and regions. In this narrative review, we draw together evidence from low and middle-income countries to highlight challenges to research capacity strengthening in conflict, as well as examples of good practice. We find that authorship trends in health research indicate global imbalances in research capacity, with implications for the type and priorities of research produced, equity within epistemic communities and the development of sustainable research capacity in low and middle-income countries. Yet, there is little evidence on what constitutes effective health research capacity strengthening in conflict-affected areas. There is more evidence on health research capacity strengthening in general, from which several key enablers emerge: adequate and sustained financing; effective stewardship and equitable research partnerships; mentorship of researchers of all levels; and effective linkages of research to policy and practice. Strengthening health research capacity in conflict-affected areas needs to occur at multiple levels to ensure sustainability and equity. Capacity strengthening interventions need to take into consideration the dynamics of conflict, power dynamics within research collaborations, the potential impact of technology, and the wider political environment in which they take place.

There has been increased interest in whether “South-­‐South” co-­ operation by Brazil, Russia, In... more There has been increased interest in whether “South-­‐South” co-­ operation by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) advances more equitable initiatives for global health. This article examines the extent to which resolutions, commitments, agreements and strategies from BRICS and Brazil, India and China (BIC) address regionally articulated policy concerns for health systems in East and Southern Africa (ESA) within areas of resource mobilization, research and development and local production of medicines, and training and retention of health workers. The study reviewed published literature and implemented a content analysis on these areas in official BRICS and ESA regional policy documents between 2007 and 2014. The study found encouraging signals of shared policy values and mutuality of interest, especially on medicines access, although with less evidence of operational commitments and potential divergence of interest on how to achieve shared goals. The findings indicate that African interests on health systems are being integrated into south-­‐south BRICS and BIC platforms. It also signals, however, that ESA countries need to proactively ensure that these partnerships are true to normative aims of mutual benefit, operationalize investments and programs to translate policy commitments into practice and strengthen accountability around their implementation.

International Politics, 2016

This article examines the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) and its invocation of common humanity.... more This article examines the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) and its invocation of common humanity. It argues that the RtoP needs the normative weight and work of the notion of common humanity in order to be framed as a common response to atrocity crimes. It further suggests that such a framing process points to a shift in the doctrine's possible remit and accessibility which offers the potential for improvement, even in the face of legitimate critique and practical failure. The act of framing the doctrine as common opens up a shared discursive space, in which a communal language, platform and mandate allows for the enduring dilemmas of intervention and the enduring problem of conscience-shocking crimes against humanity to be more collectively engaged with. Thus, despite its failings, this framing of the RtoP offers avenues for enhanced empathy, legitimacy and efficacy.