Read an interesting paper on the International Sanitary Convention in 1926, which situated the new international sanitary measures in changing situation of the world where Europe was no longer the single arbiter of the prevention of transnational epidemics, such as cholera in the 19c, and the U.S. and Japan became new major players. The new measures which were not dependent singly on quarantine were also important. Nevertheless, the old rules of game based on the power of the states, rather than the benefit of the world in general, still continued.
Sealey, A. (2011). "Globalizing the 1926 International Sanitary Convention." Journal of Global History 6(03): 431-455.
The 1926 convention was a key document in the rethinking of international relations in an era that saw the dissolution of the great European land empires and a renegotiation of European power overseas. Japan and the United States pushed for an agreement that was less Eurocentric than its predecessor and that recognized the growing international stature of their countries. Asia and Africa had both negotiated regional agreements that they expected to be taken into consideration at the global conference.
The 1926 convention is notable for two reasons: the first is the increased reliance on epidemic intelligence rather than quarantine as the basis of international epidemic control, representing the maturation of a process that had begun at the turn of the century. Second, despite the universalist rhetoric used to support the convention and epidemic intelligence, the intelligence networks that states entered into were based as much on political concerns as epidemiological factors. 432.
