Boundaries of Contagion

by Lieberman, Evan S.

• ISBN13: 9780691132860
• ISBN10: 0691132860
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-03-23
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

Why have governments responded to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in such different ways? During the past quarter century, international agencies and donors have disseminated vast resources and a set of best practice recommendations to policymakers around the globe. Yet the governments of developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean continue to implement widely varying policies.Boundaries of Contagionis the first systematic, comparative analysis of the politics of HIV/AIDS. The book explores the political challenges of responding to a stigmatized condition, and identifies ethnic boundaries--the formal and informal institutions that divide societies--as a central influence on politics and policymaking.Evan Lieberman examines the ways in which risk and social competition get mapped onto well-institutionalized patterns of ethnic politics. Where strong ethnic boundaries fragment societies into groups, the politics of AIDS is more likely to involve blame and shame-avoidance tactics against segments of the population. In turn, government leaders of such countries respond far less aggressively to the epidemic. Lieberman's case studies of Brazil, South Africa, and India--three developing countries that face significant AIDS epidemics--are complemented by statistical analyses of the policy responses of Indian states and over seventy developing countries. The studies conclude that varied patterns of ethnic competition shape how governments respond to this devastating problem. The author considers the implications for governments and donors, and the increasing tendency to identify social problems in ethnic terms.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	p. ix
Abbreviations	p. xi
Preface	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
The Puzzle Of Explaining Government Policy	p. 5
AIDS as a Laboratory for Comparison: Politics in Really Hard Times	p. 10
Outline of the Book	p. 18
A Theory of Boundary Politics and Alternative Explanations	p. 25
Ethnic Boundaries	p. 28
The Effects of Boundaries on Policymaking	p. 35
Implications for AIDS Policy	p. 42
Additional and Alternative Explanations	p. 50
Conclusion	p. 59
Globalization and Global Governance of AIDS: The Geneva Consensus	p. 61
The Rise of Asymmetric Global Health Governance	p. 65
The Emergence of the Global Response to AIDS	p. 72
The Content of the Geneva Consensus	p. 86
The Limits of Consensus	p. 106
Conclusion	p. 107
Race Boundaries and AIDS Policy in Brazil and South Africa	p. 110
Comparing the Epidemics in Brazil and South Africa	p. 112
Different Policy Responses	p. 114
Partial and Alternative Explanations of Policy Divergence	p. 125
The Effect of Boundary Institutions	p. 142
Conclusion	p. 171
A Model-Testing Case Study of Strong Ethnic Boundaries and AIDS Policy in India	p. 173
India's AIDS Epidemic	p. 177
The Government's Response: Weak and Delayed	p. 181
Explanation: The Role of Boundary Politics	p. 193
Explaining Policy Variation across Indian States	p. 220
Conclusions and Alternative Explanations	p. 234
Ethnic Boundaries and AIDS Policies around the World	p. 239
The Data	p. 240
Analysis and Discussion: Estimates of the Effect of Boundaries on AIDS Policy	p. 261
Conclusion	p. 288
Conclusion: Ethnic Boundaries or Cosmopolitanism?	p. 292
Implications	p. 295
Future Research	p. 303
References	p. 307
Index	p. 331
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