ABSTRACT
Although it may be tempting to term HIV/AIDS the first disease of globalization, in reality the spread of epidemics has always been facilitated by the tools of globalization such as travel, trade, and migration. As early as the 1340s, Europeans associated the spread of plague with ships and refugees (Hunter, 2003, p. 126). The high incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the United States and Western Europe immediately after World War I reflected the return of soldiers after the war (Hunter 2003, p. 165). While sharing similarities with these epidemics, HIV/AIDS is further shaped by the globalization that has occurred since the Cold War. HIV/AIDS interfaces with the system of international capitalism, widespread technological advances, migration, the expansion of institutions of global governance, and the development of transnational advocacy networks.
