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Oil and Health Care in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2013

Sara Rzayeva*
Affiliation:
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York [srr39@cornell.edu].
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Abstract

Health care systems reflect historical relationships between states and citizens, as well as predominant values and institutions marking a particular social milieu. Theories that place national health care in historical social context tend to exaggerate the forces of globalization and to underestimate the role of local specificities. A health care system and its social context, however, are shaped at the intersection of global, regional, and local factors, rather than by globalization alone. In this article I demonstrate this combined influence by tracking the transition in Soviet to post-Soviet health care Azerbaijan. I show that the dissolution of Azerbaijan’s socialized health care was due not to neoliberal globalization, but rather to the historical constellation of global, regional, and national processes, including the political choice of a petroleum-based development strategy.

Résumé

Les systèmes de soins reflètent l’histoire des relations entre les citoyens et leur État, tout autant qu’un milieu social particulier est façonné par les valeurs dominantes. Voir la politique santé dans un contexte d’histoire sociale globale dont on exagère l’influence, c’est sous-estimer les spécificités locales. Le système de soins et son contexte social sont à l’intersection de facteurs globaux, régionaux et locaux. L’article analyse cette combinaison sur le cas de l’Azerbaïdjan en transition vers l’ère post-soviétique. La dissolution de l’organisation sanitaire soviétique a été beaucoup moins le fait de la globalisation que d’un processus aux trois niveaux cités incluant le choix politique d’un développement reposant sur le pétrole.

Zusammenfassung

Die Beziehungsgeschichte zwischen Bürger und Staat spiegelt sic him Gesundheitswesen wieder, ganz ähnlich wie vorherrschende Wertesysteme und Institutionen ein bestimmtes soziales Milieu beeinflussen. Wer die Gesundheitspolitik nur im Rahmen der allgemeinen Sozialgeschichte, deren Bedeutung übertrieben wird, betrachtet, unterschätzt die örtlichen Gegebenheiten. Das Gesundheitswesen und sein soziales Umfeld befinden sich an der Schnittstelle globaler, regionaler und örtlicher Faktoren. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht diesen doppelten Ansatz am Beispiel des aserbaidschanischen Gesundheitswesens und seinem Übergang von einer sowjetischen zu einer postsowjetischen Struktur. Die Auflösung des aserbaidschanischen Gesundheitswesen wurde weniger durch die Globalisierung hervorgerufen, als durch die drei bereits erwähnten Faktoren, zu denen auch die politische Entscheidung einer erdölgestützten Entwicklung zählt.

Type
Research Articles
Copyright
Copyright © A.E.S. 2013 

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References

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