Both practically and ideologically, the battle against AIDS has enormously expanded the construction of a global polity, extending aspirations for global governance. In the global imagination, new forms of citizenship—rights to health, education, and political and social equality—should emanate from an emergent global center. AIDS policy, like other altruistic endeavors, inevitably depends on what donors imagine that others need. Examining three areas of AIDS policy, this talk explores the ways donors’ moral imaginations shape AIDS policy and the larger global polity-in-formation.
