Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T14:26:21.456Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Interpreting the unexpected: the case of AIDS policy making in Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Patricia Day  and
Rudolf Klein
Patricia Day
Affiliation:
Social Policy, University of Bath
Rudolf Klein
Affiliation:
Social Policy, University of Bath
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper analyses the reactions of a government faced with an unpredictable and unexpected crisis with possible catastrophic long-term effects: the AIDS epidemic in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. First, the AIDS epidemic is defined as a case study of government forced to cope with uncertainty, moral ambiguity and the knowledge that there are no solutions, only ways of limiting the damage. Second, it examines the evolution of policy of British ministers, who initially preferred to ignore evidence of AIDS but were forced to act by signals threatening a popular backlash. They did so by creating a programme of action based on the advice and values of the medical profession and public health experts. The conclusion argues that this kind of policy response may be generalisable. When societies are faced with problems that do not appear to be soluble but which may imperil social cohesion they seek to create an elite consensus to treat them as technical matters, so insulating the policy process from possible disruptive populist pressures.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , July 1989 , pp. 337 - 353
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

AIDS Unit, 1988. Briefing Notes. Mimeo. London: DHSS.Google Scholar
Anderson, Roy M. and May, Robert M. (1988) ‘Epidemiological parameters of HIV transmission’, Nature, Vol. 333, 9 06, 514–519.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brandt, Allan M. (1987) No Magic Bullet. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
David, Collingridge and Colin, Reeve (1986) Science Speaks to Power. London: Frances Pinter.Google Scholar
Sir David, Cox (Chairman) (1988) Short-term prediction of HIV Infection and AIDS in England and Wales: Report of a Working Group. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Department of Health and Social Security (1985) AIDS: General Information for Doctors. CMO (85) 7 03. London: DHSS.Google Scholar
Department of Health and Social Security (1988) Problems Associated with AIDS: Response by the Government to the Third Report from the Social Services Committee. Cmx. 297. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Deutsch, Karl W. (1966) The Nerves of Government. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Fox, Daniel M. (1988) ‘AIDS and the American Health Polity’ in Fee, Elizabeth and Fox, Daniel (eds) AIDS: the Burdens of History. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Fox, Daniel M., Day, Patricia and Klein, Rudolf (1989) ‘The Power of Professionalism: Policies for AIDS in Britain, Sweden and the United States’. Daedulus, Vol. 118, No. 2, 93–112.Google ScholarPubMed
Gallo, Robert C. and Montagnier, Luc (1988) ‘AIDS in 1988’. Scientific American, Vol. 259, No. 4, 25–32.Google ScholarPubMed
House of Commons (1989) Official Report, Vol. 144, No. 27, 13 01 1989 col. 1100.Google Scholar
Jenkins, Peter (1989) Mrs Thatcher's Revolution. London: Pan Books.Google Scholar
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society (1988) Series A (Statistics in Society), Vol. 15, Part 1. Special issue on AIDS.Google Scholar
Klein, Rudolf (1974) ‘The case for elitism’, Political Quarterly, Vol. 45, No. 3 406–417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, Rudolf (1989) The Politics of the National Health Service, 2nd ed. (revised). London: Longman.Google Scholar
Laurence, Jeremy (1985) ‘What can we do on AIDS?’ New Society, 18 10.Google Scholar
Lindblom, Charles E. and Cohen, David K. (1979) Usable Knowledge. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Neustadt, Richard E. and Fineberg, Harvey V (1983) The epidemic that never was. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Office of Health Economics (1988) HIV and AIDS in the United Kingdom. London: OHE.Google Scholar
Public Health Laboratory Service (1989) Reported AIDS UK. Mimeo, 4 05 1989. London: PHLS.Google Scholar
Rose, Richard (1989) ‘The Political Appraisal of Employment Policies’, Journal of Public Policy, Vol. 7, Part 3, 283–305.Google Scholar
Rose, Richard (1989) Ordinary People in Public Policy. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Rose, Richard and Page, Edward C (1989) Searching in adversity. Glasgow: University of Strathclyde. Studies in Public Policy, No. 174.Google Scholar
Social Services Committee (1987A) Third Report Session 1986–1987, Problems Associated with AIDS: vol. I – Report H.C. 182–I. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Social Services Committee (1987b) Third Report Session 1986–87, Problems Associated with AIDS: Vol. II. Minutes of Evidence H.C. 182–II. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Social Services Committee (1987c) Third Report Session 1986–87, Problems Associated with AIDS: Vol. III. Minutes of Evidence and Memoranda H.C. 182–III. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Sontag, Susan (1989) AIDS and its Metaphors. London: Allen Lane/The Penguin Press.Google Scholar
Street, John (1988) ‘British Government Policy on AIDS’, Parliamentary Affairs, Vol. 41, No. 4, 490–508.Google ScholarPubMed
Wildaysky, Aaron and Tenenbaum, Ellen (1981) The Politics of Mistrust. London: Sage.Google Scholar