Matthew B Sparke
· Distinguished Professor of PoliticsUniversity of California, Santa Cruz · Political Science
Active 1991–2025
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About
Professor Matthew B Sparke is a scholar whose work extensively explores the intersections of globalization, geopolitics, geoeconomics, and global health. His research critically examines the shifting dynamics of global hegemony, neoliberalism, and the political economy, with a particular focus on the implications of these forces for health, disease, and social inequalities. Sparke's scholarship addresses the complex relationships between market, state, and society, especially in the context of pharmaceutical industries and global health governance. He has contributed to understanding the political economy of COVID-19, including the co-pathogenesis of the disease and the global inequalities in vaccine access, highlighting the roles of philanthro-capitalism and patent monopolies in shaping health outcomes. His work also engages with the geographies of philanthropy, neoliberal disease, and the socio-political dimensions of global health crises. Sparke's interdisciplinary approach integrates cultural geography, political economy, and critical geopolitics, contributing to debates on neoliberalism, global capitalism, and the spatialities of health and disease. Through his numerous publications, he has addressed topics such as the remaking of global health under neoliberal regimes, the geopolitics of migration and refugee sub-citizenship, and the socio-spatial impacts of austerity and environmental crises. His scholarship is characterized by a critical engagement with the ways…
Research topics
- Political Science
- Sociology
- Medicine
- Computer Science
- Virology
- Computer Security
- Law
- Economics
- Development economics
- Economic growth
Selected publications
Neoliberal disease: COVID-19, co-pathogenesis and global health insecurities
Environment and Planning A Economy and Space · 2021 · 108 citations
1st authorCorrespondingThe COVID-19 pandemic has at once exposed, exploited and exacerbated the health-damaging transformations in world order tied to neoliberal globalization. Our central argument is that the same neoliberal plans, policies and practices advanced globally in the name of promoting wealth have proved disastrous in terms of protecting health in the context of the pandemic. To explain why, we point to a combinatory cascade of socio-viral co-pathogenesis that we call neoliberal disease. From the vectors o…
Contextualising coronavirus geographically
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers · 2020 · 86 citations
1st authorCorrespondingThis editorial introduces a special virtual issue aimed at providing online access to articles that can contribute to the work of coming to geographical terms with the COVID‐19 pandemic. It outlines seven sub‐themes of enquiry and analysis that are especially useful for contextualising coronavirus geographically. These are explored in turn as geographies of: (1) infection, (2) vulnerability, (3) resilience, (4) blame, (5) immunisation, (6) interdependence, and (7) care. In each case, connections…
Review of International Political Economy · 2019-07-02 · 66 citations
articleOpen access1st authorCorrespondingThis article examines the impacts of two interconnected but distinct regimes of neoliberalism on global health.The first is the 'rollback' regime associated most commonly with the 1980's and 1990's when efforts to build universal primary health care systems around the world were undermined by Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) and associated forms of austerity and market rule.This rollback regime of neoliberal conditionalization led to widespread health service cutbacks, user fees, and other…
Clinical Infectious Diseases · 2022 · 44 citations
1st authorCorrespondingGlobal access to coronavirus vaccines has been extraordinarily unequal and remains an ongoing source of global health insecurities from the evolution of viral variants in the bodies of the unvaccinated. There have nevertheless been at least 3 significant alternatives developed to this disastrous bioethical failure. These alternatives are reviewed in this article in the terms of "vaccine diplomacy," "vaccine charity," and "vaccine liberty." Vaccine diplomacy includes the diverse bilateral deliver…
Annals of the American Association of Geographers · 2019-02-08 · 13 citations
articleOpen access1st authorCorrespondingThe election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency has led to significant changes in environmental governance, unleashing an authoritarian, nationalistic, and business-deregulating juggernaut aimed at destroying various forms of environmental protection. We seek to name and explain this juggernaut as the Trumpist Behemoth. Using this terminology, we show how Neumann’s classic 1942 study of the Nazi Behemoth can be used to build a critique of the Trump administration’s approach to governance. We…
Frequent coauthors
- 4 shared
Noel Castree
- 4 shared
James D. Sidaway
National University of Singapore
- 4 shared
Daniel Bessner
University of Washington
- 3 shared
Melissa W. Wright
- 3 shared
Tim Bunnell
National University of Singapore
- 3 shared
Carl Grundy‐Warr
National University of Singapore
- 3 shared
Katharyne Mitchell
University of California, Santa Cruz
- 2 shared
Jessica McLean
Macquarie University
Awards & honors
- Spencer Foundation Vision Grant (2024)
- Agricultural Experiment Station (AES) Faculty Collaborative…
- National Institute of Food and Agriculture research award fr…
- Climate Action Award granted from UC Office of the President…
- Community-Engaged S/Hero Award from UC Office of the Preside…
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