Southern Africa's Responses to International HIV/AIDS Norms (1990-2005)

The Politics os Assimilation

The southern African region has the worst HIV/AIDS epidemic in the world. In some countries, HIV infection affects nearly 40% of the adult population. This work shows that, despite the formal commitment of the governments of the region to follow international guidelines to combat the epidemic and the technical and financial support of powerful donors, three countries - Botswana,Mozambique and South Africa - showed significant variations in internal assimilation of international prescriptions for action on HIV. These international policy guidelines are based on an innovative conceptualization of security that proclaims a global epidemic as a threat to international peace and stability.