Introduction to Special Issue on 'Legal Dimensions of Chinese Globalization': China and Global Health Governance

Institutions matter for the advancement of human rights in global health. Given the dramatic development of human rights under international law and the parallel proliferation of global institutions for public health, there arises an imperative to understand the implementation of human rights through global health governance. This volume examines the evolving relationship between human rights, global governance, and public health, studying an expansive set of health challenges through a multi-sectoral array of global organizations. To analyze the structural determinants of rights-based governance, the organizations in this volume include those international bureaucracies that implement human rights in ways that influence public health in a globalizing world. Bringing together leading health and human rights scholars and practitioners from academia, non-governmental organizations, and the United Nations system, this volume explores: (1) the foundations of human rights as a normative framework for global health governance, (2) the mandate of the World Health Organization to pursue a human rights-based approach to health, (3) the role of inter-governmental organizations across a range of health-related human rights, (4) the influence of rights-based economic governance on public health, and (5) the focus on global health among institutions of human rights governance. Contributing chapters map the distinct human rights activities within a specific institution of global governance for health. Through the comparative institutional analysis in this volume, the contributing authors examine institutional efforts to operationalize human rights in organizational policies, programs, and practices and assess institutional factors that facilitate or inhibit human rights mainstreaming for global health advancement.

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Contemporary Global Health Governance Actors

10.1093/oso/9780198813057.003.0005 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jeremy Youde

Keyword(s):

Global Health ◽

World Health ◽

Global Health Governance ◽

Governance System ◽

Health Governance ◽

Current State ◽

Funding Agencies ◽

Health Organization ◽

Private Actors ◽

Public Versus Private

While Chapter 3 focuses primarily on the evolution of global health governance, Chapter 4 pays more attention to its contemporary manifestation as a secondary institution within international society. This chapter discusses the current state of the global health governance architecture—who the important actors are, how they operate, how they have changed over the past twenty-five years, and how they illustrate the fundamental beliefs and attitudes within the global health governance system. In particular, the chapter discusses the relative balance between state-based and non-state actors, as well as public versus private actors. This chapter highlights five key players within contemporary global health governance: states; the World Health Organization; multilateral funding agencies; public–private partnerships; and non-state and private actors

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China, International Society, and Global Health Governance

10.1093/oso/9780198813057.003.0008 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Jeremy Youde

Keyword(s):

Foreign Policy ◽

Global Health ◽

International Society ◽

Global Health Governance ◽

Health Issues ◽

Governance System ◽

Health Governance ◽

Policy Tool ◽

Governance Institutions ◽

Ambivalent Relationship

China possesses the world’s largest economy, but that economic clout has not necessarily translated into taking leading roles within existing global health governance institutions and processes. It is a country that both contributes to and receives financial assistance from global health institutions. It has incorporated health into some of its foreign policy activities, but it has largely avoided proactively engaging with the values and norms embodied within the global health governance system. This ambivalent relationship reflects larger questions about how and whether China fits within international society and what its engagement or lack thereof might portend for international society’s future. This chapter examines China’s place within global health governance by examining its interactions with international society on global health issues, its use of health as a foreign policy tool, and its relationships with global health governance organizations.

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Divergent Perspectives in Global Health Governance

10.1093/oso/9780199694631.003.0005 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Jennifer Prah Ruger

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Health Policy ◽

Global Health ◽

Global Public Good ◽

Global Health Governance ◽

Actor Model ◽

Health Governance ◽

Rational Actor ◽

Global Health Policy ◽

Self Interest

The global health governance (GHG) literature frames health variously as a matter of security and foreign policy, human rights, or global public good. Divergence among these perspectives has forestalled the development of a consensus vision for global health. Global health policy will differ according to the frame applied. Fundamentally, GHG today operates on a rational actor model, encompassing a continuum from the purely self-interest-maximizing position at one extreme to a more nuanced approach that takes others’ interests into account when making one’s own calculations. Even where humanitarian concerns are clearly and admirably at play, however, the problem of motivations remains. Often narrow self-interest is also at work, and actors obfuscate this behind altruistic motives.

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Emerging Powers and Global Health Governance: The Case of BRICS Countries

The Oxford Handbook of Global Health Politics ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190456818.013.19 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Yanzhong Huang

Keyword(s):

Global Health ◽

First Century ◽

Global Health Governance ◽

Industrialized Countries ◽

Health Governance ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Health Diplomacy ◽

Brics Countries ◽

Working Together ◽

Emerging Powers

Focusing on BRICS countries, this chapter examines the profound implications arising from the growing and future role of emerging powers in global health governance (GHG). At the beginning of the twenty-first century, not only did BRICS countries shift towards net donors, but also their efforts in global health agenda setting and norm development increased. Their policy and practice in conducting health diplomacy constitute an alternative to the existing GHG paradigm. However, their role in GHG remains limited and mixed, as shown in the relatively small size of development assistance for health (DAH), a selective and state-centric approach to developing and participating in global health institutions, and the lack of progress working together and translating policy rhetoric into action. It is still too early to view these efforts as a counterbalance or counterforce to industrialized countries in GHG.

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