High Politics, Low Politics, and Global Health

It has become commonplace to argue that global health has ascended from “low politics” to the ranks of “high politics” in international relations—those issues of existential importance to the state and which concern its very survival. Despite its ubiquity, the actual substance of such a shift in the framing of global health is largely unexamined. In this article, I argue that empirical evidence belies the idea that global health is a “high politics” issue. This dichotomy makes little sense, and efforts to reframe global health as a “high politics” or securitized issue rarely succeed. While it is undoubtedly true that global health has received significantly greater attention from the international community over the past twenty-five to thirty years, that attention does not spring from global health being reframed as a “high politics” issue for states

Public health over private wealth: rebalancing public and private interests in international trade and investment agreements

The emerging global trade and investment regime is a site of ongoing contestation between states, powerful industry actors and civil society organisations seeking to infuence the formation of legal rules, principles, practices and institutions. The inclusion of major transnational tobacco, alcohol and ultraprocessed food companies seeking to influence governments in these processes has resulted in the expanded distribution and consumption of unhealthy commodities across the globe, overshadowing many of the positive impacts for health hypothesised from liberalised trade. The growing number of pathways for market actors to exert undue influence over national and international regulatory environments provided by agreements, such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, has given many cause to be concerned. In the context of continued commitment by states to international trade and investment negotiations, we present several avenues for public health scholars, advocates and practitioners to explore to rebalance public and private interests in these deals

From Imperialism to the "golden Age" to the Great Lockdown: The Politics of Global Health Governance

This article reviews the state of the literature on the politics of global health governance and associated political dynamics of actors involved in this issue space. We identify seven eras in the field, beginning with the period of empire and colonialism and ending with the COVID-19 outbreak. The field of global health has long had a focus on infectious disease, often rooted within a state-centered approach to transnational global health problems with recurrent debates about whether and how restrictions on trade and travel should be imposed in the wake of disease outbreaks. This statist focus is in tension with more cosmopolitan visions of global health, which require broader health system strengthening. In the mid-2000s, a golden age emerged with the influx of new financing and political attention to addressing HIV/AIDS and malaria, as well as reducing the risk posed by infectious disease outbreaks to economies of the Global North. Despite increased awareness of noncommunicable diseases and the importance of health systems, events of recent years (including but not limited to the COVID-19 outbreak) reinforced the centrality of states to global health efforts and the primacy of infectious diseases

Challenging Institutional Racism in International Relations and Our Profession: Reflections, Experiences, and Strategies

Attempts to create a more inclusive discipline and profession have been commended by many and derided by some. While these attempts have pushed for change, particularly with regards to more equal representation of gender and race among faculty, policies aimed at creating a more inclusive environment are often tokenistic, administrative and bureaucratic, and fail to address structural and institutional practices and norms. Moreover, the administrative and bureaucratic policies put into place are generally targeted at a single categorical group, failing to take into account the manner in which identities are intersecting and overlapping. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion often gets driven by Human Resources and Marketing rather than owned by the wider university. This forum draws from a variety of contributions that focus on describing the lived realities of institutional racism, its intersections with other forms of discrimination, and strategies for change. In putting together this forum, we do not aim to create a checklist of practical steps. Instead, we hope to signpost and make visible the successes and failures of previous challenges and future possibilities that must be taken by both faculty and administrations

15 years of 'War on AIDS': what impact has the global HIV/AIDS response had on the political economy of Africa?

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Review of African Political Economy on 21st August 2015, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/03056244.2015.1064370

Blog - Trump and the move away from the sitcom approach to foreign policy

If the United States is Blossom, then Australia is Six. If the United States is Alex P. Keaton, then Australia is Skippy (not this Skippy). These relationships make understanding the recent dust-up between Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister (no, not president—though republicanism remains a perenially-debated issue) Malcolm Turnbull (no, not Trumble). Last Saturday, Trump and Turnbull had a phone call. In and of itself, this is not remarkable. Australia is one the US’ most consistent and long-standing allies. Australia has been the US’ long-time pal, contributing troops to US-led military missions for years, supporting its various diplomatic initiatives, and going along with its hare-brained schemes like any good best friend would do. What was unexpected was that Trump would accuse Australia of wanting to send “the next Boston bombers” to the US as part of a deal reached last year for the US to accept 1250 refugees currently being held on Nauru and Manus Island. What was even more unexpected was that Trump, after haranguing Turnbull for 25 minutes, hung up on him and described the call as “the worst so far.”This item was commisioned by Duck of Minerv