The biopolitics of European border security

This chapter highlights some of the central problems of liberal biopolitics in relation to the global governance of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It shows that some of the most central, and much more difficult, problems of the global governance of HIV/AIDS actually stem from the internal contradictions of liberal biopolitics, which the case of HIV/AIDS explosively manifests. The combination of liberal governmentality and the management of life in the 21st century internally clashes in a manner which turns the good intentions of liberalism into a nightmare for some. The chapter focuses on the work of Roberto Esposito, who has elevated HIV/AIDS to the status of one of the biggest indicators of the tensions of modern biopolitics and also explicated the manner in which the negative side of biopolitics persistently haunts liberalism. It offers some further reflections on the difficult situation and the possible directions for the development of a more tolerant response to the pandemic.