Disease and Diplomacy
Weaponizing Medical Aid to Syrian Refugees in Jordan
What happens to refugees when politics come first?
Description
When millions of Syrians fled civil war after 2011, international donors and humanitarian organizations mobilized to provide assistance to neighboring countries. Focusing on Jordan—one of the world’s largest refugee hosting states—Disease and Diplomacy investigates how medical aid to refugees operates as an instrument of diplomacy and control within the global refugee system. It argues that health, far from being an apolitical humanitarian good, is a bargaining tool that states commodify to extract resources and concessions.
Drawing on years of field research, interviews, and policy analysis, the book shows how the Jordanian government, international donors, and humanitarian agencies turned healthcare for refugees into a tool for negotiating power, resources, and responsibility. In these cases, refugees, caught within these negotiations, often found their access to care determined not by medical need, but by political calculation. Developing the concept of the weaponization of medical aid, the book extends theories of migration diplomacy and refugee rentierism to show how global power dynamics shape who receives healthcare. The analysis identifies a self-reinforcing “crisis loop” that privileges short-term, highly visible responses while neglecting chronic and long-term needs. Disease and Diplomacy advances an interdisciplinary framework for understanding how humanitarian practices reinforce global inequalities and argues for more equitable approaches to refugee health and responsibility-sharing in the international system.
Sigrid Lupieri is a political scientist whose research explores the intersection of humanitarianism, refugee health, and international politics. She was previously a Lecturer at Stanford University, a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, an officer at the United Nations, and a journalist focusing on human rights.
Reviews
“Disease and Diplomacy makes a significant contribution to the study of refugee politics, humanitarian aid, and Middle Eastern geopolitics. This work is particularly valuable for scholars of international relations, humanitarian studies, and Middle Eastern politics.”
- Atallah S. Al Sarhan, The Hashemite University
“Disease and Diplomacy constitutes an extremely thoughtful and intersectional presentation of an important case study in migration studies and health security. The book gives voice to underrepresented perspectives of populations often marginalized from scholarship on international relations. Lupieri is an excellent writer and the book is written in a humanizing style that draws readers into the narrative.”
- Summer Marion, Bentley University
“Lupieri offers an essential, critical take on how states and international organizations come together to jointly manage refugees—and the myriad health problems that accompany them as they struggle with the challenges of displacement. Through a careful and thoughtful study of Syrian refugees in Jordan, Disease and Diplomacy is a major contribution to our understanding of the politics of refugee health.”
- Lisa Blaydes, Stanford University
“Lupieri’s monograph provides a conceptually rigorous extension of the migration diplomacy framework. By brilliantly tracing the weaponization of medical aid in Jordan, she reveals how health becomes a potent bargaining tool. This is an essential interrogation of refugee rentierism that complicates our understanding of humanitarianism in an era of securitized mobility.”
- Gerasimos Tsourapas, University of Birmingham
“Disease and Diplomacy is an essential resource for anyone trying to understand the often veiled relationship between humanitarian action and the exercise of power.”
- Paul Wise, Stanford University