Pandemics and soft power

HIV/Aids and Uganda on the global stage

Bibliographic Data

ID12876850
AuthorsDoyle (0000-0003-1420-3434, University of Leeds, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume15
Issue3
Pages478-492
Publication date2020-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Global History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1740-0228 • E-ISSN: 1740-0236
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1740022820000248
OpenAlexW3095910868
LanguageEN
Citations received6

The COVID-19 outbreak of 2020 threatened years of effort by the Chinese authorities to extend its influence around the world. This article seeks to enhance understanding of China’s defensive engagement with global health agencies, and more broadly of the relationship between pandemics and soft power, through an analysis of Uganda’s evolving response to HIV/AIDS. As with COVID-19, HIV/AIDS presented a fundamental threat not only to countries’ internal social stability and population health, but also to governmental legitimacy and nation-states’ international reputation. HIV, however, also provided Uganda with an opportunity to enhance its global standing, influence international policy, and achieve national reconstruction. This case study highlights the importance of viewing international affairs from the perspective of the Global South. It argues that the very weakness of Uganda, and the structural marginality of HIV/AIDS, provided the leverage which would in the end deliver radical shifts within global health

China · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Development economics · Disease · Economic growth · Economics · Environmental health · Global health · Health care · Infectious disease (medical specialty · International relations · Legitimacy · Leverage (statistics · Pandemic · Political science · Politics · Population · Soft power · Global Security and Public Health · HIV/AIDS Impact and Responses · International Development and Aid · Law · Medicine

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