Grant: Operating Grant

Over the past decade, health concerns have increasingly been integrated into foreign policy discussions and deliberations as the accelerated pace of globalization continues to dissolve many of the boundaries between domestic and foreign policy issues. Events such as the HIV/AIDS pandemic, threats from infectious diseases, fears about bio-terrorism and issues related to trade and health have provided an incentive for foreign policy decision-makers to give more attention to health issues.This awareness has led to new forms of global health policy and governance through negotiated forms of collective action, often referred to as global health diplomacy (GHD). While considerable literature has been published in recent years on GHD, there remains little conceptual consensus and even less empirical research that explores the conditions under which health becomes effectively integrated into foreign policy decision-making processes. Our study will fill this research gap by asking: 1. What health concerns enter into diplomatic and foreign policy discussions and negotiations domestically? 2. How do these concerns enter such negotiations? 3. What are the conditions that allow state and non-state health actors to be successful (or not) in influencing foreign policy priorities and multilateral negotiating positions of national governments? 4. How do multilateral negotiations impact decision-making processes about foreign policy priorities of national governments and with what effects on health priority setting in foreign policy? 5. What theory of GHD arises from empirical analysis of the practice of health diplomacy? Improving our knowledge about global health diplomacy will be strategically important for governments and non-state actors involved in global health issues. It will allow health negotiators to be more effective at promoting health-sensitive foreign policies.