Tampa Prep 2009-2010 Impact Defense File
AT: AIDS National Insecurity
Download 2.71 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- There is no link between disease outbreaks and national security P. Fidler
- Perception is key – disease outbreaks are not perceived as a security threat
AT: AIDS National InsecurityEmpirically the U.S. and E.U. have grown stronger as a result of AIDS – won’t be taken out by disease spread David P. Fidler, Professor of Law, Indiana University School of Law, 2003, George Washington International Law Review, 35 Geo. Wash. Int'l L. Rev. 787, p. 818-9 The more general threat from infectious diseases proves harder to connect with the realpolitik perspective on national security. The literature on the public health-national security linkage posits two kinds of threats from naturally occurring infectious diseases: direct and indirect. The direct threat comes from pathogenic microbes "invading" a state through global travel and trade, undermining military, economic, and political capabilities and thus the state's foundations of power. The indirect threat manifests itself when infectious diseases contribute to "state failure" in other regions of the world, causing military, political, and economic instability that adversely affects the strategic interests of other states. HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa is an example experts frequently employ in the public health-national security linkage literature to argue that infectious disease problems in other countries represent an indirect national security threat to the United States. From the realpolitik perspective, the "direct threat" argument is hard to maintain in connection with the national security of the great powers, which are the primary focus of realism. HIV/AIDS "invaded" the United States and European nations during the 1980s and caused epidemics. Infectious disease morbidity and mortality, and the economic costs associated with dealing with the consequences, have climbed in the United States and other nations over the past twenty years. The increasing problems associated with microbial invaders specifically and infectious diseases generally did not, however, undermine or challenge the great power status of the United States and countries in Western Europe. Analysts of international politics generally recognized that the United States and Europe grew in absolute and relative power during the first two decades of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the time period associated with emerging and re- emerging infectious diseases. n147 For the United States as a great power, the microbial incursion of HIV/AIDS and other pathogens has not affected its ability to defend the nation against external attack or project its power in other regions of the world. As Price-Smith concluded, "the globalization of disease is not a direct threat to the security of industrialized nations at the present time." There is no link between disease outbreaks and national security P. Fidler, Professor of Law, Indiana University School of Law, 2003, George Washington International Law Review, 35 Geo. Wash. Int'l L. Rev. 787, p. 795-6 Despite the Clinton administration's claim that infectious diseases, especially HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, represented a national security threat to the United States, the administration behaved in ways that indicated it did not practice what it preached. The most glaring discrepancy on this issue came in the hard line the Clinton administration took against developing countries, such as South Africa, that sought to increase access to antiretroviral therapies for HIV/AIDS-ravaged populations. Reviewing the National Intelligence Council's report on The Global Infectious Disease Threat and Its Implications for the United States in Foreign Affairs, Philip Zelikow argued: "The analysis is fascinating, and the case for international humanitarian action is compelling. But why invoke the "national security" justification for intervention? The case for direct effects on U.S. security is thin. Frustration also accompanied efforts to delineate the linkage. CBACI and the CSIS International Security Program engaged in an eighteen-month research project on the question of whether the "growing number of intersections between health and security issues create a national security challenge for the United States" only to conclude that "we still cannot provide a definitive answer." Perception is key – disease outbreaks are not perceived as a security threat David P. Fidler, Professor of Law, Indiana University School of Law, 2003, George Washington International Law Review, 35 Geo. Wash. Int'l L. Rev. 787, p. 839-41 As analyzed above, arguments that infectious diseases coming from other countries through international trade and travel constitute a direct national security threat to the United States were not persuasive. "Germs don't recognize borders" did not impress the national security community in the United States, and the seismic shift precipitated by the anthrax attacks reinforces this skepticism. At the time of this writing, for example, the global spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) - a new, contagious disease causing severe public health and economic problems in Asia and Canadan226 - was not being discussed in the United States as a national security issue, except in connection with how SARS may affect U.S. military efforts in Iraq. The emerging concept of public health security in the United States only weakly recognizes the national security importance of the globalization of infectious diseases. This argument does not mean that the globalization of infectious diseases is entirely absent from the post-anthrax U.S. foreign policy agenda. The Bush administration's national security strategy includes frequent references to the foreign policy importance of HIV/AIDS, and President Bush's announcement in January 2003 of an Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief represented a dramatic proposal for increased U.S. humanitarian assistance to nations in Africa and the Caribbean significantly affected by HIV/AIDS. n229 As indicated earlier in this Article, not all foreign policy issues rise, however, to the level of being national security concerns. As a consequence, global infectious disease problems do not feature strongly in the emerging scope and substance of public health security in the United States. Directory: files -> documents documents -> North Mankato Taylor Library documents -> In the Red and Brown Water documents -> - documents -> I. Disaster Summary Sheet II. Tropical Cyclones documents -> Cbp and Trade Automated Interface Requirements Appendix: pga december 22, 2015 documents -> Ace abi catair customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements documents -> Ace abi catair customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements documents -> Mobile audio/video recording systems documents -> Cartographic Concepts for Realizing a Location Based umts service documents -> 1/ Background Statistics Human development index rank Download 2.71 Mb. Share with your friends:
|