BETWEEN BEDROOMS AND BALLOTS: THE POLITICS OF HIV'S ...

country, but also due to the fact that many development workers prefer to remain in major cities,
and thus little trickles out to those who really need it. Mozambique is very much a country of
stark contrasts between its urban and rural areas, and between the southern part of the country
and the central and northern regions. Having conducted this research in both urban and nonurban
sites throughout the country, part of my goal is to help guide policy conceptualization
concerning the nuances of the differing regions involved. 5
In this sense, it is much like the rest
of sub-Saharan Africa, and indeed countries throughout the world, with its rural/urban divisions.
Additionally, similarities also exist between Mozambique and other countries around the world
in the patriarchal institutions; emphasis on childbearing; issues with decentralized and accessible
health care; the process inherent within a transition to democracy; ambiguity regarding
incentives for mobilization within civil society associations; conditions of economic dependence
in regions that lack such basic services as water, medical supplies and electricity; and prevalence
of informal institutions to fill in for a lack of other resources. Therefore, I argue that this case
study is useful as a comparison to help us also understand similar situations elsewhere as it holds
theoretical implications for both institutional analysis in comparative politics and policy making
in general.
The Potential for ‘Progress’
Overall, this study deals with both potential and practice and the extent to which progress
is being made in mobilizing individuals in both villages and cities toward a new political
consciousness; in short, how does HIV/AIDS mobilize individuals and groups in the public
realm and what are the processes and effects of this mobilization? Each of the subsequent
5 Throughout this study I refer to ‘non-urban’ regions which are too urban to be considered ‘rural’ but not urban
enough to be ‘urban.’ I opt not to use ‘semi-urban’ because it represents something closer to urban than rural, when
in fact, many of these types of areas may indeed be urbanizing, but still have a rural feel to them.
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