AIDS and global security

AIDS has been medically visible for 30 years; but only in the last five have the security implications of the pandemic begun to be discussed seriously. This debate has been in many ways unsatisfactory to date. The purpose of this article is to begin to rectify this at the moment when the first major...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International affairs (London) 2004-10, Vol.80 (5), p.931-952
Main Author: Prins, Gwyn
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
Africa
AIDS
Disease management
Diseases
Environmental security
Epidemics
Epidemiology
Geopolitics
HIV
Infections
International aspects
International relations
International security
National security
Pandemics
Political Economy
Political stability
Security
Selenium
War
World politics
World Problems
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Summary:AIDS has been medically visible for 30 years; but only in the last five have the security implications of the pandemic begun to be discussed seriously. This debate has been in many ways unsatisfactory to date. The purpose of this article is to begin to rectify this at the moment when the first major efforts to combat the pandemic are beginning to take effect. It records therefore the history of that debate and ascertains in what useful and defensible senses AIDS can be described and managed as a security issue. It argues that there are, indeed, several that meet these criteria. The article describes the first three engagements with the disease from the time of its discovery and then suggests three newer ones and, it argues, more fruitful approaches that have advanced since 2000 of which the security dimension is one. The others are the geo-politics of the human immune system and analysis through the prism of political economy. The scope of the next waves of AIDS after the southern African one, is depicted. Its coming intersection with oil and Great Power politics is noted.
ISSN:0020-5850
1468-2346
DOI:10.1111/j.1468-2346.2004.00426.x