ABSTRACT
Given the global spread of infection, and the global nature of the response, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is of clear relevance to scholars of international relations and international political economy. The bulk of initial research on AIDS in the early 1980s was devoted to understanding its occurrence and presentation within and across populations. This chapter argues that a global political economy approach offers further insights for understanding and responding to the disease. AIDS is a complex of symptoms and signs in infected individuals, ultimately culminating in the fatal depression of the immune response system. The main shortfall of the neoliberal discourse has been the legitimation of economic other criteria in the allocation of resources for AIDS. National and international policy makers were initially slow to respond to AIDS as a public health issue. Both the biomedical and neoliberal discourses have framed AIDS debate in apolitical terms, legitimised by the claim that they are confined to non-normative issues.
