An Imperative for Normative Research on Global Health Governance

With international public health law initially conceived as a means to protect independent state interests against global health threats, this paradigm of mutual self-interest is being challenged by a new normative reality - with global health policy pursued as a means to realize a more just world. In seeking justice in an increasingly globalized world, through international legal agreements among states and global health policies among state and non-state actors, norms are progressively framing the global health response. These norms for justice--including shared ideas, values, attitudes, identities, and expectations--are increasingly guiding policymakers in choosing the most appropriate policy to meet the ideals of the global community. The present study explores this normative turn in global health, tracing the history of international health law through the lens of realist and constructivist theories of international relations. Through international legal research, it becomes possible to chronicle the evolving normative development of global health policy, employing social scientific research to provide causal theories for the association of law and policy with specific norms. Given the rise of empirical research on international health law, there is an imperative for corresponding research on the norms of global health governance. Surveying normative research on international health law and global health policy--encompassing frameworks for human rights, bioethics, global justice, and human development--this research examines a series of case studies in global health governance, assessing the potential of interdisciplinary legal research for understanding the role of norms in global health.