In this stunning work, Lieberman traces the divergent responses of governments to the varying salience of ethnic boundaries across polities. Where ethnic boundary institutions are strong, he shows that political leaders are reluctant to address HIV, whether or not their own ethnic community runs a relatively higher risk than other groups. This book should be read and taught by scholars of comparative politics and public health specialists for its substantive argument and multilevel, multimethod research design. -- Elisabeth Jean Wood, Yale University In this book, Lieberman seeks to explain why countries or states have different public policies and public expenditures towards HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. His argument relies heavily on the ethnic configuration of nation-states. Brazil does well, South Africa does badly, and India's performance is found to be closer to South Africa. Because of the lower racial consciousness of decision makers and lower salience of race in Brazilian politics, argues Lieberman, governments are able to define HIV as a national, not an ethnic or racial, problem. In South Africa and India, race and caste dominate politics, the politics of blame and shame takes over, and the decision makers are unable to demonstrate the resoluteness that comes with viewing the problem as a national one. A fascinating argument. -- Ashutosh Varshney, Brown University Why are some countries so callous toward AIDS victims? This book is the first to account systematically for national differences in AIDS policies. The greater the racial fragmentation in society, the comparative analysis shows, the more each racial group will use the tactics of shame and blame to avoid supporting public investment in AIDS treatment. While Evan Lieberman's evidence is distressing, his book is revealing. -- David D. Laitin, Stanford University There has been a lack of meaningful work on the politics of HIV/AIDS, which is surprising given the prominence of the pandemic as a global issue and policy challenge. This book fills a real void and there is no question that it makes an important contribution to the field. -- Richard Parker, Columbia University There is a great thirst for research on the social and political dynamics of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and Lieberman's book makes a decisive contribution to this literature. Boundaries of Contagion reframes the discussion of good policy in far-reaching and startling ways. It represents a heroic effort at developing a theory of how social boundaries shape the provision of public goods, and makes the most humane and compelling argument for nation-building that I have ever encountered. -- Catherine Boone, University of Texas, Austin Boundaries of Contagion usefully separates the public health issue of which HIV/AIDS policies work best from the political science issue of which political forces are involved in shaping and constraining such policies. The analysis focuses rigorously on the political science issue without neglecting the public health issue. -- James McGuire, Wesleyan University
Illustrations ix Abbreviations xi Preface xiii Chapter One: Introduction 1 The Puzzle Of Explaining Government Policy 5 AIDS as a Laboratory for Comparison: Politics in Really Hard Times 10 Outline of the Book 18 Chapter Two: A Theory of Boundary Politics and Alternative Explanations 25 Ethnic Boundaries 28 The Effect of Boundaries on Policymaking 35 Implications for AIDS Policy 42 Additional and Alternative Explanations 50 Conclusion 59 Chapter Three: Globalization and Global Governance of AIDS: The Geneva Consensus 61 The Rise of Asymmetric Global Health Governance 65 The Emergence of the Global Response to AIDS 72 The Content of the Geneva Consensus 86 The Limits of Consensus 106 Conclusion 107 Chapter Four: Partial and Alternative Explanations of Policy Divergence 125 The Effect of Boundary Institutions 142 Conclusion 171 Chapter Five: A Model-Testing Case Study of Strong Ethnic Boundaries and AIDS Policy in India 173 India's AIDS Epidemic 177 The Government's Response: Weak and Delayed 181 Explanation: The Role of Boundary Politics 193 Explaining Policy Variation across Indian States 220 Conclusions and Alternative Explanations 234 Chapter Six: Ethnic Boundaries and AIDS Policies around the World 239 The Data 240 Analysis and Discussion: Estimates of the Effect of Boundaries on AIDS Policy 261 Conclusion 288 Chapter Seven: Conclusion: Ethnic Boundaries or Cosmopolitanism? 292 Implications 295 Future Research 303 References 307 Index 331
Evan S. Lieberman is associate professor of politics at Princeton University.
Winner of the 2010 Giovanni Sartori Book Award, Qualitative Methods Section of the American Political Science Association One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2010 "Lieberman's methodologically eclectic study constitutes the most thorough cross-national examination of the politics of AIDS to date. It should be essential reading for people interested in the politics of AIDS, public health, and public policy making more generally."--Choice "Lieberman's book has the great merit of casting peremptory conclusions about HIV/AIDS implementation in national contexts, and, as such, it constitutes a landmark in the political analysis of epidemic response. Though being a scholarly book, it appeals to wider audience interested in major international social and development policy ... since it proposes thoroughly argued explanations for specific policy behaviors."--Ricardo Pereira, CEU Political Science Journal
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