A Global Analysis of Domestic Military Policies Governing Responses to Public Health Emergencies

ABSTRACT Throughout the COVID‐19 pandemic, militaries mobilized at an unprecedented scale to support domestic response efforts. This was consistent with the growing trend of asset mobilization for military operations other than war during public health emergencies. However, the global scale and vast breadth of civil‐military cooperation invites new considerations regarding the authority and scope of domestic operations of militaries during public health emergencies. We aimed to identify how each UN member state codifies their military's roles and responsibilities in domestic emergencies. We systematically analyzed each nations' domestic military deployment, focusing on the authority, execution and scope of military involvement pertaining to domestic public health emergencies. We then analyzed legally enforceable policies and categorized them respectively. We found that of countries with active military forces, nearly all (170/171) have codified rules on domestic military deployment and 90.59% (154/170) allow domestic military mobilization for any domestic emergency through executive orders. Furthermore, 58.48% (100/171) of countries with an active military have codified the separation of powers to ensure that civilian decision makers are exclusively empowered to mobilize military forces. Finally, we found that 74.85% (128/171) of countries included language that explicitly authorized military involvement in domestic operations, including support for public health emergency response and humanitarian operations. Our findings provide critical data for analyzing the relationship between military operations and public health outcomes. This will enable future research, including how specific domestic military deployment policies impact the effectiveness of military involvement in public health emergencies for population health and civil order.