A Sociological Look beyond the Surface of the National Action Plans against AMR

Abstract

Abstract The global governance of AMR has reached a new stage in recent years since recommendations issued by international organizations have been turned into numerous national action plans. The future of global governance thus depends on the ways national administrations and bureaucrats adapt the goals and tools of international policy against AMR to their own perspective. Based on the theoretical framework of the sociology of professions, this chapter highlights with a qualitative approach why professional state bureaucrats face difficulties in implementing the One Health approach, a cornerstone of global governance which implies the establishment of collaboration between professionals. The analysis focuses on animal health professionals whose views on AMR remain comparatively less studied than those of human health professionals. Building on Switzerland as a case study, it shows that in countries with a decentralized administrative structure, interactions between national and regional administrative units characterized the national governance of AMR. Negotiations between state actors and representatives of the professions concerned with the control of antibiotic use are an additional central element in understanding how global governance is adapted to the national scale. The chapter contributes to the analysis of AMR’s global governance by showing that successful global governance is not limited to countries’ formal compliance with the norms and injunctions promulgated by international organizations. Even in Northern countries where administrative resources are much more developed than in Southern countries, global governance must take into account the social and professional environment in which those who implement plans against antibiotic resistance work.