Abstract
In the post-Cold War era there is increasing attention by scholars and policy makers to changing definitions of security, and explorations of the linkages between health and security. It is argued that security no longer only involves the defense of the state from outside military attacks; security is greater than that. Within the concept of human security,1 individual human life is deemed more important than merely maintaining the viability of a given state and ensuring the absence of armed conflict; it is the freedom from want and freedom from fear for individuals. It is with this backdrop of contested notions of security that a health issue like HIV/AIDS can be understood as a security issue. Furthermore, the increasing attention toward the nonmilitary aspects of security has brought new actors into the security realm. One such actor, the nongovernmental organization (NGO), in general, and the development or health NGO specifically, can be understood as a security actor when and if HIV/AIDS is understood as a security threat.
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Notes
See Leon Gordenker, Roger A. Coate, Christer Jonsson, and Peter Soderholm, International Cooperation in Response to AIDS (London: Pinter, 1995).
Jessica T. Mathews, “Redefining Security,” Foreign Affairs 68, no. 2(1989): 162–76.
See Jack Chow, “Health and International Security,” The Washington Quarterly 19, no. 2 (1996): 63–77; Christopher F. Chyba, Biological Terrorism, Emerging Diseases, and National Security: Project on World Security Rockefeller Brothers Fund (New York: Rockefeller Brothers Fund, 1998), http://www.rbf.org/pdf/Chyb_Bioterrorism.pdf; Paul Farmer, “Social Inequalities and Emerging Infectious Diseases,” Emerging Infectious Diseases 2, no. 4(1996): 259–69; David P. Fidler, “The Globalization of Public Health: Emerging Infectious Diseases and International Relations,” Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 5, no. 1 (1997): 11–52; Laurie Garrett, “The Return of Infectious Disease,” Foreign Affairs 75, no. 1 (1996): 66–79; Dennis Pirages, “Microsecurity: Disease Organisms and Human Well Being,” The Washington Quarterly 18, no. 4 (1995): 5–17; Andrew T. Price-Smith, “Infectious Disease and Global Stability at the Turn of the Century,” International Journal 54, no. 3(1999): 426–42; Andrew T. Price-Smith, The Health of Nations: Infectious Disease, Environmental Change, and their Effects on National Security (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001).
See Stefan Elbe, Chapter 6, this volume; Price-Smith, The Health of Nations: Infectious Disease, Environmental Change, and Their Effects on National Security and Development (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2001); Stefan Elbe, “HIV/AIDS and the Changing Landscape of War in Africa,” International Security 27, no. 2 (2002): 159–77; Robert L. Ostergard, Jr. “Politics in the Hot Zone: AIDS and National Security in Africa,” Third World Quarterly 23, no. 2 (2002): 333–50.
Barry Buzan, Ole Wa’ver and Jaap de Wilde. Security: A New Framework for Analysis (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1998), 24.
For example see Lester Salomon, “The Rise of the Nonprofit Sector,” Foreign Affairs 73, no. 4(1994): 109–22; Jessica T. Mathews, “Power Shift: The Age of Nonstate Actors,” Foreign Affairs 76, no. 1 (1997): 50–66; Peter Willetts, ed., The Conscience of the World: The Influence of Nongovernmental Organizations in the UN System (Washington, DC: Brookings, 1996); Maryann K. Cusimano, Mark Hensman, and Leslie Rodrigues, “Private-Sector Transsovereign Actors—MNCs and NGOs;” in Beyond Sovereignty: Issues for a Global Agenda, ed. Maryann K. Cusimano, 253–82 (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2000).
Barton Gellman, “World Shunned Signs of Coming Plague;” Washington Post, July 5, 2000.
Jonathan B. Tucker, Scourge: The Once and Future Threat of Smallpox (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2001).
David F. Gordon, National Intelligence Estimate: The Global Infectious Disease Threat and Its Implications for the United States, NIE 99–17D (Washington, DC: National Intelligence Council, January 2000).
Dr. Bernard was special assistant to the National Security Council on International Health during the Clinton administration. He then became special advisor on National Security to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Kenneth Bernard, “Health and Security” (statement, United States Institute of Peace, Washington, DC, March 14, 2002).
Barton Gellman, “AIDS is Declared Threat to Security; White House Fears Epidemic Could Destabilize World,” Washington Post, April 30, 2000.
United States Institute of Peace, AIDS and Violent Conflict in Africa, Special Report of the United States Institute of Peace (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace, October 2001).
The National Security Strategy of the United States of America (Washington, DC: The Office of the President of the United States, September 2002).
David F. Gordon, National Intelligence Estimate: The Next Wave of HIV/AIDS: Nigeria, Ethiopia, Russia, India and China, ICA 2002–04D (Washington, DC: National Intelligence Council, September 2002).
A list of InterAction members with HIV/AIDS projects can be viewed at http://www.interaction.org/aids. Sources used for the analysis included written summaries for the meetings of the ACVFA and Lexis-Nexis for newspaper accounts of statements by InterAction representatives and these 49 PVOs.
Linda Busetti, “Catholic Relief Services Launches ‘Africa Rising’ Campaign,” Catholic Herald, June 28, 2001.
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© 2005 Elke Krahmann
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Sheehan, C. (2005). NGOs as Security Actors in the Fight against HIV/AIDS?. In: Krahmann, E. (eds) New Threats and New Actors in International Security. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403981660_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403981660_7
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