Suchergebnisse

AbstractTackling germs, negotiating norms, and securing access to medicines are persistent challenges that disproportionally affect developing countries' participation in global health governance. Furthermore, over the last two decades, the excessive focus on global pandemics and security in global health diplomacy, rendered peripheral diseases that usually strike the poor and vulnerable, creating situations of marginalisation and inequality across societies. However, as the importance of regions and regionalism increases in global politics, and integration ambitions and initiatives extend beyond trade and investment to embrace welfare policy, there are new opportunities to explore whether and how regional commitments affect health equity and access to medicine in developing nations. What, if any, are the possibilities for meso-level institutions to provide leadership and direction in support of alternative practices of global (health) governance? Can regional polities become international advocacy actors in support of global justice goals? This article addresses these questions by analysing regional health diplomacy in South America. The article argues that regional organisations can become sites for collective action and pivotal actors in the advocacy of rights (to health) enabling diplomatic and strategic options to member state and nonstate actors, and playing a role as deal-broker in international organisations by engaging in new forms of regional health diplomacy.

Since the creation of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), health became a strategic driver in regional politics in South America in two ways: by redefining trans-border practices through health policies and institutions within the region; and by projecting (regional) health policies through global interventions. The paper explores these dynamics in relation to UNASUR's policies towards access to medicine, inclusion, and demands for better governance at the World Health Organisation. It argues that regional organisations like UANSUR are significant actors in on-going attempts to address and mitigate trans-border social harms, contributing with innovative regulatory frameworks and different mechanisms of socialisation and engagement that can significant impact national policy making and management in health. But it is also argued that the significance of regional health governance as promoted by UNASUR has to be seen not only as a framework for the promotion of 'regulatory regionalism' (Hameiri and Jayasuriya 2009) in public health, but also for 'regional health diplomacy' brokering new norms and revising the terms of global health governance. This analysis hopes to contribute directly to the literature in IPE and regionalism by offering a more nuanced discussion about the links between regionalism and social policy, and new forms of regional diplomacy beyond traditional goals of trade and financial markets expansion.

How far is there a regional trend away from neoliberalism in Latin America and how can we characterize the new forms of state activism that are emerging in the region? This book explores different expressions and approaches to post-neoliberal governance in Latin America and identifies the place of social and political inclusion, as well strategies for economic growth, within them. It explores the possibilities and constraints on the state, along with changing models of democracy, social policy and the political economy of development, bringing in examples from Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, Br

La integración regional es una característica establecida en el contexto político económico contemporáneo global. Durante muchos años las organizaciones regionales devinieron y fueron estudiadas, como entidades principalmente orientadas a reforzar políticas de ampliación y liberalización del comercio y en ciertos casos, de creación de medidas de confianza mutua para robustecer la seguridad. A partir de la década de 1990 muchas organizaciones regionales ampliaron sus mandatos para incorporar enfoques coordinados dentro de un espacio geográfico determinado para hacer frente a los retos trasfronterizos como la salud, la infraestructura, la energía, el medio ambiente y la educación; ejercicios que se vieron restringidos en contextos de austeridad económica. Sin embargo, desde finales de década el espacio regional, en particular en América del Sur, se ha convertido en una forma de acción colectiva cada vez más importante para perseguir objetivos definidos de políticas públicas. Este artículo busca definir la relación entre los cambios en la gobernanza regional en materia de políticas sociales, particularmente en salud, y legitimidad. El análisis busca responder a tres preguntas claves: ¿De qué modo y en qué medida las prácticas y proyectos de política social fomentados por organismos regionales representan vehículos y oportunidades para el desarrollo humano? ¿Cuáles son las posibilidades de UNASUR de proveer liderazgo y dirección en modelos de desarrollo alternativos? y ¿Qué tipo de legitimidad otorga al regionalismo un nuevo enfoque social? El argumento presentado sugiere que la estructura normativa novedosa de UNASUR en salud, con énfasis en derechos y equidad, estructura nuevas prácticas y la reasignación de recursos materiales y de conocimiento que a su vez afectan positivamente el desarrollo social. Sin embargo, mientras la agenda social se define como un 'resultado' existen tensiones en términos de una apertura hacia mayor participación social dentro de UNASUR, presentando un desfasaje entre la legitimidad democrática (input), y la legitimidad de resultado (output).