Medical Martial Law: Proposals for Creating More Effective Policies in a Brave New Post Pandemic World

Abstract

This article synthesizes the political-economic geography regime with existing political subdivision modeling to predict the legitimacy of various authorities that might order medical martial law. Such “districting” authority, as limited by the Constitutional right to travel, reveals a range of authorities to declare and enforce remediation of emergencies under various legal frameworks within defined geographic areas. The primary interdisciplinary approach used here is public policy, political economy and economic geography. We demonstrate how the latter contributes greatly. First, the science of spatial understanding is offered by physical geographers for the physical barriers that shape political borders and may define contagion vectors based largely on traditional travel patterns. Second, economic geography provides insight into the size, shape and extent of regional trade areas within which contagion vectors may be predicted. Third, the policy reach of various political entities and subdivisions is considered to yield insights fusing political geography with political science through the law.