The Role of Executive Time Horizons in State Response to AIDS in Africa

Abstract

In this article the author argues that politicians’ time horizons affect the differing levels of state intervention against AIDS. Using data measuring government spending, AIDS policy, and political constraints, the author tests the presumption that the leader of a country can determine a country’s level of AIDS intervention. She looks at countries in eastern and southern Africa to explore the relationship between political institutions that constrain an executive’s time horizon (i.e., competitive elections) and the level of the state’s efforts in the fight against AIDS. Her primary hypothesis is that an executive with a shorter time horizon is less likely to create policy or devote resources to intervene against AIDS. The author finds that lengthening an executive’s time horizon increases the level of government spending on health but that executives with shorter time horizons tended to have more comprehensive AIDS policy than their counterparts with longer time horizons.