Vicious Circle: HIV/AIDS, State Capacity, and National Security: Lessons from Zimbabwe, 1990-2005


Andrew T. Price-Smith

Recent macro level empirical analyses have revealed a complex relationship between health and governance. Yet, most micro level studies fail to assess the effects of HIV/AIDS induced morbidity and mortality as they interact across the domains of demography, economic and governance at the domestic level of analysis. This consilient case study illustrates the manner in which HIV/AIDS generates negative pressures that destabilize Zimbabwean society, its economy, and its structures of governance. The article asserts that HIV/AIDS can act as a stressor upon seriously affected societies, and may over time generate or exacerbate macro-level destabilization.