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Bates College Journal of Political Studies

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

Abstract

Global health policy has long been viewed as a “softer” arena of politics, driven by cooperation rather than competition. Unlike economics or defense, nations in this sphere have often set aside ideological differences to improve human well-being. Yet right-wing governments (RWGs) are increasingly redefining this space, transforming it from an international project of solidarity into a strategic platform for advancing core ideological commitments. In this thesis, I examine how healthcare has become a critical site where the foundational tenets of RWGs—hierarchy, tradition, market liberalism, sovereignty, law and order, and populist nativism—are vividly enacted and reinforced. What was once a domain grounded in science and shared humanitarian goals is now shaped by the politics of morality, productivity, and belonging. The rhetoric of “law and order” and national sovereignty are projected onto health, with populations sorted into insiders and outsiders by their perceived worthiness or conformity to dominant norms. In privatized systems dominated by elite interests, access to care becomes both a signifier of loyalty to the ideal citizen and a marker of social class. Thus, global and domestic health policies are increasingly mobilized by RWGs as tools to discipline bodies, delineate communities, and exert social control under the guise of policy, revealing health not as a new tenet but as a critical mechanism for the expression of right-wing governance.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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