HIV/AIDS, Security and Ethics

Abstract

This chapter presents a broader approach to the securitization of infectious diseases; one which includes the heavy and widespread health burden posed by slower-spreading, endemic diseases like HIV/AIDS. It focuses on the possibility of elevating naturally-occurring disease outbreaks to the security agenda. A reason for limiting securitization to a select category of dreaded infectious disease threats is that this may minimize the risks associated with framing a health issue in terms traditionally reserved for military threats. To frame an infectious disease as a security issue is to lend it a sense of urgency, and to seek some of the overriding political interest and superior financial resources associated with more traditional concepts of security. The theory of securitization derives principally from the work of Barry Buzan, Ole Waever and Jaap de Wilde. Identifying security threats and determining appropriate responses to them are matters for political and ethical judgment as well as scientific assessment.