| AIDS activists have enjoyed levels of success unprecedented by other disease-identified groups. Theories of pluralism and of social movements, as well as the historical record of previous disease-based political responses, fail to predict this success. Using a combined understanding of pluralism and social movements, referred to in this study as interest activism, this success may be explored. The dissertation examines three case studies: group ownership of the AIDS issue, activism around AIDS and HIV treatment issues, and HIV transmission prevention activism. The first case study examines the gay community, Haitians, heroin users, and hemophiliacs, and demonstrates that group ownership is a process requiring several important decision making levels. This is a necessary pre-condition for the policy successes of the second and third case studies. These studies show mixed results, with treatment issues widely regarded as a phenomenal success area for AIDS activist and prevention issues enjoying only partial success from the activists' viewpoint. However, both studies show the importance of institutionalized participation in larger policy circles and point to successful strategies for achieving that institutionalization. On a larger theoretical level the study illustrates the usefulness of the interest activism framework, which helps to explain the reasons and ways people organize, and how they succeed in achieving their goals. |
