The Geopolitics of Demographic Decay: HIV/AIDS and Russia's Great-Power Status

Abstract

A specialist in international relations examines the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the context of Russia's security interests and status in the international system. Sources from the international news media's coverage of HIV/AIDS in Russia and the social science literature on the epidemic in Russia are used not only to outline the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Russia in terms of trends in the last decade and those factors promoting the spread of the virus but also to focus on the social, economic, and military consequences of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Russia. These consequences are analyzed in terms of how they might affect Russia's international position in the coming decades.