HIV/AIDS: A Nontraditional Security Threat for AFRICOM; Monograph

摘要

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effectiveness of the militaries of southern Africa given the nature of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the complexities through which U.S. Africa Command must navigate. The study will draw on research of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and its effect on the effectiveness of the militaries of southern Africa, leaning heavily on the research of Stefan Elbe and a small cadre of associated scholars that focused their academic attention on this specific issue. Prior to the discussion of the effect the epidemic has had on these militaries, the study discusses military effectiveness, utilizing the model of effectiveness prescribed by Allan Millett, Williamson Murray, and Kenneth Watman in their article 'The Effectiveness of Military Organizations.' The monograph then analyzes HIV/AIDS as a security issue, focusing on the scholarship of Stefan Elbe and Barry Buzan in this matter. Next it focuses on the regional implications of the epidemic and its effect on the militaries of southern Africa before moving on to the epidemic's international ramifications. The final analysis is a discussion of U.S. national interests in southern Africa and the ramifications of the effects of HIV/AIDS on U.S. national security policy. The study shows that current U.S. national security policy does not adequately address the security interests of the United States with regard to southern Africa. Specifically, the United States has failed to adequately address the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on the effectiveness of the militaries of southern Africa, and the epidemic's ramifications for its own national security interests.