사스의 정치: 외적압력과 중국의 국내적 변화

Abstract

Politics of SARS: International Pressure and China's Policy ChangeThis article examines China's responses to SARS, an epidemic which first broke out in November, 2003. In the early stages of the outbreak, China had followed its traditional way of dealing with domestic problems by covering up the epidemic. China's response to the epidemic, however, changed dramatically on April 20, when it fired two minister-level officials for mishandling the epidemic and began to report the daily statistics about SARS to the WHO. This article attempts to understand why and how this drastic change happened, by delving into the impact of international pressure created by the rapid transmission of SARS throughout the world on China's policy selection. The change in China's responses to the SARS shows that the international linkages between China and the world formed over the past two decades have begun to exert influence on China's domestic policy selection.