Drawing from sociological neoinstitutionalism, this article considers the emergence and evolution of the global health system. Tracing the dates of the founding of health-related international organizations shows a clear pattern of institutionalization over time. First, the article shows a clear trend of organizational structuration and expansion: with the oldest health-related international organizations tracing their origins to the 17th century, the global organizational field today includes some 2600 health-related organizations. Second, the field has clearly changed over time in the framing of health as a social concern: delineating the goals and aims of these health-related international organizations, the article reveals four general approaches to international health (as an act of charity, as a professional activity, as a means for development and as a basic human right) and a historic thematic shift from charity to human rights-based notions of health between 1650 and 1997. Such shifts are theorized within the framework of the neoinstitutional perspective.
Abbasi, K. (1999) ‘The World Bank and World Health’ , British Medical Journal318: 865-869, 933-936, 1003-1006, 1066-1069, 1132-1135, 1206-1208 .
2.
Appadurai, A. (1996) Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Modernity. London and Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press .
3.
Boli, J. and Thomas, G. M. , eds (1999) Constructing World Culture: International Nongovernmental Organizations Since 1875. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press .
4.
Chabbott, C. (1999) ‘Constructing Educational Development: International Development Organizations and the World Conference of Education for All’, dissertation, Stanford University.
5.
Chabbott, C. (2003) Constructing Education for Development: International Organizations and Education for All, ed. E. R. Beauchamp . New York: RoutledgeFalmer .
6.
Chase-Dunn, C. (1989) Global Formation: Structures of the World Economy. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell .
7.
Delorenzi, S. (1999) ICRC Policy Since the End of the Cold War: Contending with the Impasse in International Humanitarian Action. Geneva: International Committee of the Red Cross .
8.
Diehl, P. F. (1997) The Politics of Global Governance: International Organizations in an Interdependent World. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner .
9.
Drori, G. S. , Meyer, J. W. , Ramirez, F. O. and Schofer, E. (2003a) ‘The Discourses of Science Policy’, in G. S. Drori , J. W. Meyer , F. O. Ramirez and E. Schofer (eds) Science in the Modern World Polity: Institutionalization and Globalization, pp. 100-113. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press .
10.
Drori, G. S. , Meyer, J. W. , Ramirez, F. O. and Schofer, E. , eds (2003b) Science in the Modern World Polity: Institutionalization and Globalization. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press .
11.
Dubin, M. D. (1995) ‘The League of Nations Health Organization’, in P. Weindling (ed.) International Health Organizations and Movements, 1918-1939, Cambridge History of Medicine, pp. 56-80. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
12.
Escobar, A. (1995) Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press .
13.
Finnemore, M. (1996a) National Interests in International Society, Vol. 47. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press .
14.
Finnemore, M. (1996b) ‘Norms, Culture, and World Politics: Insights from Sociology’s Institutionalism’ , International Organization50: 325-347 .
15.
Friedland, R. and Alford, R. R. (1991) ‘Bringing Society Back in: Symbols, Practices, and Institutional Contradictions’, in W. W. Powell and P. J. DiMaggio (eds) The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis, pp. 232-263. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press .
16.
Godlee, F. (1994) ‘The World Health Organization: WHO in Crisis’ , British Medical Journal309: 1424-1428 .
17.
Guillen, M. F. (2001) ‘Is Globalization Civilizing, Destructive or Feeble? A Critique of Five Key Debates in the Social Science Literature’ , Annual Review of Sociology27: 235-260 .
18.
Harris, R. L. and Seid, M. J. (2004) ‘The Globalization of Health: Risks, Responses, and Alternatives’ , Perspectives on Global Development and Technology3: 245-269 .
19.
Inoue, K. (2003) Vive la Patiente! Discourse Analysis of the Global Expansion of Health as a Human Right. Stanford, CA: Department of Education, Stanford University .
20.
Jang, Y. S. (2003) ‘The Global Diffusion of Ministries of Science and Technology’, in G. S. Drori , J. W. Meyer , F. O. Ramirez and E. Schofer (eds) Science in the Modern World Polity: Institutionalization and Globalization, pp. 120-135. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press .
21.
Jones, P. S. (2004) ‘When “Development” Devastates: Donor Discourses, Access to HIV/AIDS Treatment in Africa and Rethinking the Landscape of Development’ , Third World Quarterly25: 385-404 .
22.
Keohane, R. (1974) ‘Transgovernmental Relations and International Organizations’ , World Politics27: 39-62 .
23.
Keohane, R. and Nye, J. (1972) Transnational Relations and World Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
24.
King, N. (2002) ‘Security, Disease, Commerce: Ideologies of Postcolonial Global Health’ , Social Studies of Science32: 763-789 .
25.
Lechner, F. J. and Boli, J. (2005) World Culture: Origins and Consequences. Malden, MA: Blackwell .
26.
Lee, K. , Buse, K. and Fustukian, S. (2002) Health Policy in a Globalizing World. New York: Cambridge University Press .
27.
Leyton, E. (1998) Touched by Fire: Doctors without Borders in a Third World Crisis. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart .
28.
McMurray, C. and Smith, R. (2001) Diseases of Globalization: Socioeconomic Transitions and Health. London: Earthscan .
29.
Peabody, J. W. (1995) ‘An Organizational Analysis of the World Health Organization: Narrowing the Gap Between Promise and Performance’ , Social Science Medicine40: 731-742 .
30.
Pereira, C. (2002) ‘Configuring “Global”, “National”, and “Local” in Governance Agendas and Women’s Struggles in Nigeria’ , Social Research69: 781-804 .
31.
Pevehouse, J. , Nordstrom, T. and Warnke, K. (2004) ‘The Correlates of War 2 International Governmental Organizations Data Version 2.0’ , Conflict Management and Peace Science21: 101-119 .
32.
Ramirez, F. O. and Boli, J. (1987) ‘The Political Construction of Mass Schooling: European Origins and Worldwide Institutionalism’ , Sociology of Education60: 2-18 .
33.
Ritzer, G. (2004) Handbook of Social Problems: A Comparative International Perspective. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage .
34.
Robertson, R. (1992) Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture. London: Sage .
35.
Schofer, E. (1999) ‘The Rationalization of Science and the Scientization of Society: International Science Organizations, 1870-1995’, in J. Boli and G. M. Thomas (eds) World Polity in Formation: A Century of International Non-Governmental Organization. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press .
36.
Schofer, E. and McEneaney, E. (2003) ‘Methodological Strategies and Tools for the Study of Globalization’, in G. S. Drori , J. W. Meyer , F. O. Ramirez and E. Schofer (eds) Science in the Modern World Polity: Institutionalization and Globalization, pp. 23-42. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press .
37.
Smith, J. (2002) ‘Globalizing Resistance: The Battle for Seattle and the Future of Social Movements’, in J. Smith and H. Johnston (eds) Globalization and Resistance, pp. 207-227. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield .
38.
Therborn, G. (2000) ‘Globalizations: Dimensions, Historical Waves, Regional Effects, Normative Governance’ , International Sociology15: 151-179 .
39.
Tiberghien, J. C. (1997) ‘The Power of Unarmed Prophets: Nongovernmental Organizations as Carriers of Human Rights Education’, MA thesis, Stanford University.
40.
Tollison, R. D. and Wagner, R. E. (1993) Who Benefits from WHO? The Decline of the World Health Organization. London: Social Affairs Unit .
41.
Tsutsui, K. and Wotipka, C. M. (2004) ‘Global Civil Society and the International Human Rights Movement: Citizen Participation in Human Rights International Nongovernmental Organizations’ , Social Forces83: 587-620 .
42.
UIA (Union of International Associations) (1999/2000) Yearbook Plus: International Organizations. Brussels, Belgium: UIA .
43.
Wallerstein, I. (1973) ‘The Rise and Future Demise of the World Capitalist System: Concepts for Comparative Analysis’ , Comparative Studies in Society and History16: 387-415 .
44.
WHO (World Health Organization) (2001) ‘Constitution of the World Health Organization’, in Basic Documents. Geneva: WHO .
