The global (health) governance of antimicrobial resistance

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article advances the study of the global governance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in International Relations. It shows how the global (health) governance of AMR emerged, highlights the inherent tension in this governance between two entangled ideas, and discusses fragmentation as a central, built-in characteristic of this governance. Further, the article analyzes two processes that have shaped perceptions and actions within this governance. The first is about the perception of AMR as a crisis. A potential future disaster encompassed in a global threat. The second is about strategies of affinity that are linked to a growing perception of AMR as an emergency. A future disaster quickly becoming a present reality. Attention to those processes, ideas, and approaches, the article argues, not only sheds light on current developments and dynamics in the global governance of AMR, but possibly also global health governance more generally.