After the Exception: HIV/AIDS Beyond Salvation and Scarcity

Abstract: Access to treatment for HIV/AIDS became a flashpoint for global justice struggles in the late 1990s. An expanding international response, premised to a significant extent on the idea of HIV/AIDS as an exceptional global problem, has since delivered treatment, care and prevention to growing numbers of people. HIV/AIDS exceptionalism, however, has increasingly been questioned, many aspects of the response have been critiqued and donor funding has started to decline. I argue that, having been framed as an exceptional humanitarian emergency, the question of HIV/AIDS as a global problem is increasingly located within a discourse of scarcity. Tracking the growing entanglement of global HIV/AIDS relief with neoliberal governmentality and the emergence of something I term therapeutic neoliberalism, I argue that the shift from a rationality of salvation to one of administration poses new challenges for global health activism. Questioning the discourse of scarcity remains essential to an alternative global health agenda.     

Anglo-American Relations: End of a Special Relationship?

Obama's election in 2008 as the United States’ first self-styled Pacific President drew a hearty round of ‘end of the affair’ editorials about Anglo-American relations. His first term was littered with ‘snubgates’, serious irritations in policy areas regarded as being core to the special relationship, and indications of an accelerating US departure from Europe with his premier foreign-policy strategy declared to be a pivot to Asia. His return for a second term in 2013 augers a continuation of first-term adjustments in US foreign policy and greater domestic focus given a divided Congress and a bitterly split and war-weary United States with domestic priorities to the fore. Doomsayers - or so-called terminalists - have been repeatedly gainsaid by the Lazarus-like quality of the relationship in the past but can the Anglo-American special relationship survive in the Obama environment? This article suggests it can and sets out the author's rather unfashionable argument in four parts: the weight of history; the canons of international-relations theory; the importance of considering interest and sentiment in explaining the special relationship's resilience; and a relativist argument that suggests the United States still really does have no better ally than the United Kingdom.     

Book reviews

Aldeghi, I., et al., Vécu et devenir des chômeurs de longue durée (La Documentation Française, 1992), 123pp., 100F., ISBN 2 11 002644 8

Baker, K.M., Inventing the French Revolution (Cambridge University Press, 1990), 372pp., £32.50 hbk., £11.95 pbk., ISBN 0 521 34618 5 and 0 521 38578 4

Blancquart, M.‐C., and Cahne, P., Littérature française du XX^e (PUF, 1992), 564pp., ISBN 2 130 44810 0

Brunet, P., ed., France et Grande‐Bretagne rurales. Rural France and Great Britain (Centre de Recherches sur l'Evolution de la Vie Rurale, Université de Caen, 1991), 510pp., 180F., ISBN 2 905 46162 4

Caune, J., La Culture en action. De Vilar à Lang: le sens perdu (Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, 1992), 368pp., 130F.

Coleman, J., and Parker, G., French and the Enterprise Path (AFLS‐CILT, 1992), 200pp., £8.95

Collot, S., Les Lieux de désir: topologie amoureuse de Zola (Hachette Université, 1992), 192pp., 150F., ‘Recherches Littéraires’ Collection, ISBN 2 010 18816 0

Coutel, C., ed., La République et l'école; une anthologie (Presses‐Pocket, 1992), 288pp., ISBN 2 266 04474 5

Crosland, M., Science under control: the French Academy of Sciences, 1795–1914 (Cambridge University Press, 1992), 454pp., £60.00, ISBN 0 521 41373 7

David, M., Le Printemps de la Fraternité: genèse et vicissitudes, 1830–1851 (Aubier, 1992), 396pp., 180F., ISBN 2 700 72237 X

Debray, R., Vie et mort de l'image (Gallimard, 1992), 140F., 412pp., ISBN 2 070 72816 1

Drieu la Rochelle, P., Journal 1939–1945 (Gallimard, 1992), 521pp., 140F., ISBN 2 070 72307 0

Durand, J.‐D. et al., Cent ans de catholicisme social à Lyon et en Rhône‐Alpes. Actes du Colloque de Lyon, 18–19 janvier 1991 (Les Editions Ouvrières, 1992), 566pp., 170F., ISBN 2 708 22954 0

Estienne, P., Les régions françaises (Masson, 1991), 2 vols, 264pp., 272pp., 180F., 190F., ISBN 2 225 82509 2, 2 225 82590 4 respectively

Fougeyrollas, P., L'Attraction du futur: un essai sur la signification du présent (Méridiens Klincksieck), 274pp., 140F., ISBN 2 865 63299 7

Gaillac, H., Les Maisons de correction 1830–1945 (Editions Cujas, 1991), 464pp., 120F., ISBN 2 254 92404 X

Genet‐Delacroix, M.‐C., Art et Etat sous la III^e République. Le Système des Beaux‐Arts 1870 (Publications de la Sorbonne, 1992), lviii+433pp., 190F., ISBN 2 859 44219 7

Hagège, C., Le Souffle de la Langue (Odile Jacob, 1992), 286pp.+9pp. of maps, 130F., ISBN 2 738 10182 8

Hancock, M.D. et al., Politics in Western Europe (Macmillan, 1993), 526pp., £14.99, ISBN 0 000 00000 0

Hardman, J., Louis XVI (Yale University Press, 1993), 264pp., £25.00, ISBN 0 300 05719 9

Hargreaves, A.G., Voices from the North African immigrant community in France. Immigration and identity in Bear fiction (Berg, 1991), 175pp., £29.50, ISBN 0 854 96649 8

Harpaz, E., Benjamin Constant et Madame Récamier (lettres 1807–1830) (Honoré Champion, 1992), 362pp., 140F., ISBN 2 852 03706 8

Hudson, J., and Tosser, N., Business French (Made Simple, 1992), 426pp., £8.95, ISBN 0 730 60299 6

Jones, H.S., The French State in Question. Public Law and Political Argument in the Third Republic (CUP, 1993), 231pp., £30., ISBN 2 521 43149 2

Kolebka, G., Dépressions sur une partie de la France (Seghers, 1991), 164pp., 100F., ISBN 2 232 10341 2

Lagrée, M., and Roche, J., Tombes de mémoire: le dévotion populaire aux victimes de la Révolution dans l'Ouest (Rennes Apogée, 1993), 148pp., 125F., ISBN 2 909 27512 4

Lefebvre, D., Guy Mollet: Le mal aimé (Plon, 1992), 545pp., 149F., ISBN Z 259 02465 3

Lemalet, M., Lettres d'Algérie, 1954–1962: La guerre des appelés, la mémoire d'une génération (Jean‐Claude Lattès, 1992), 360pp., 139F., ISBN 2 709 61145 7

Lyotard, J.‐F., The inhuman (Polity Press, 1991), 216pp., £35, ISBN 0 745 69772 1

Michel, P., and Nivet, J.‐F., Octave Mirbeau; l'imprécateur au c?ur fidèle (Librarie Séguier, 1990), 1019pp., ISBN 2 877 36162 4

Ministère du Travail, de l'Emploi et de la Formation Professionnelle, Le Tourisme Social et Familial (La Documentation Française, 1992), 333pp., 180F., ISBN 9 782 11002757 3

Oriol, P., Les immigrés devant les urnes: le droit de vote des étrangers (CIEMI/L'Harmattan, 1992), 223pp., 120F., ISBN 2 738 41246 7

Remond, R., et al., Paul Touvier et l'Eglise. Rapport de la Commission historique instituée par le cardinal Decourtray (Fayard, 1992), 418pp., 130F., ISBN 2 213 02880 X

Richardot, J.‐P., Le peuple protestant français aujourd'hui (Laffont, 1992), 388pp., ISBN 2 221 07364 9

Sainteny, G., Les Verts (PUF, 1991), 127pp., ISBN 2 130 44491 1

Sainte‐Beuve, C.‐A., La Vie des lettres (Hermann, 1992), 4 vols. I: Moyen‐#afAge et Renaissance, 184pp., ISBN 2 705 66176 X; II: Le Siècle de Versailles, 240pp., ISBN 2 705 66177 8; III: Les Lumières et les salons, 192pp., ISBN 2 705 66178 6; IV: Le Siècle du progrès, 212pp., ISBN 2 705 66179 4, 60F. each.

Scientrier, P., Tester et enrichir ses connaissances en littérature (Marabout, 1992), 287pp., ISBN 2 501 01757 9

Scriven, M., and Wagstaff, P., eds., War and society in twentieth‐century France (Berg, 1991), xii+304pp., ISBN 0 854 96292 1

Servent, P., Le Mythe Pétain. Verdun ou les tranchées de la mémoire (Editions Payot, 1992), 283pp., 120F., ISBN 2 228 88500 2

Sowerwine, C., and Magnien, C., Madeleine Pelletier, une féministe dans l'arène politique (Editions Ouvrières, 1992), 250pp., 125F., ISBN 2 708 22960 5

Stanley, J.L., ed., From Georges Sorel, vol. 2: Hermeneutics and the Sciences, translated by John and Charlotte Stanley. (New Brunswick and London, Transaction Books, 1990), 219pp., ISBN 0 887 38304 1     

Historical Development of the Dopamine Hypothesis of Schizophrenia

This review examines the history of discoveries that contributed to development of the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia. The origin of the hypothesis is traced to the recognition that neuroleptic drugs interfere with brain dopamine function. This insight was derived from two distinct lines of research. The first line originated from the discovery in 1956 that reserpine depletes brain serotonin. This finding resulted in a sequence of studies that led to the discovery that brain dopamine is involved in neuroleptic-induced extrapyramidal motor disturbances. The second line of research was aimed at determining the mechanism of action of psychomotor stimulants. This research produced evidence that stimulants directly or indirectly activate brain dopamine receptors. Because nonreserpine neuroleptics such as chlorpromazine block stimulant-induced movement, these findings suggested that neuroleptics were dopamine antagonists. Most previous accounts of the development of the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia emphasize the first line of research and ignore the second.     

The Myth of Reserpine-Induced Depression: Role in the Historical Development of the Monoamine Hypothesis

For five decades it has been generally accepted that reserpine, an antihypertensive and antipsychotic drug, causes depression. The discovery that reserpine depletes brain monoamines was an important factor in the development of the monoamine hypothesis of depression, and it continues to be widely cited in support of this hypothesis. The present paper argues that, contrary to prevailing belief, reserpine is not depressogenic. The reason for perpetuation of this myth is reluctance to discard the monoamine hypothesis. This hypothesis ushered the modern biochemical paradigm into psychiatry and is still of great importance. It serves as a heuristic to guide research, it enhances psychiatry’s prestige, and it helps to validate and promote drug therapy for depression and other mental disorders.