International norms and distinctive policy choices in global AIDS funding: Comparative case studies of Norway and Belgium

Abstract

In response to urgent call for international cooperation against HIV/AIDS, all members of Development Assistance Committee (DAC) converged in foreign aid policy decision for the health crisis within a relatively short period of time frame. However, there also existed variations among the DAC with respect to developing pattern of global AIDS funding. The research attempts to explore both convergence and divergence in the policy choices of global AIDS funding of DAC countries. When it comes to the convergence, it is the mechanism of norms teaching that encouraged the DAC to make financial contribution for the global fight against HIV/AIDS based on the sense of obligation and urgency. With regard to the distinctive pattern of the policy choices, it depends on the different norms stage each country was embedded in. The norms stage was distinctively constituted by each country’s different historical background, political institutions and public opinion. I examine the cases of Norway and Belgium both of which converged in the decision of the foreign aid yet varied in the policy choices of funding increase. Institutional harmonization and policy coherence took place in Norway in the stage of norms internalization, while Belgium launched transformation of institutional structure at the stage of norms acceptance.