This essay takes as its point of departure comparative analyses of the population control movement and the global AIDS response. We argue that the responses to both rapid population growth and AIDS reflect a particular model for approaching development issues: the global crisis model. This model provides a framework in which development issues become classified as (1) global in scope, (2) highly urgent and unique, (3) a threat to international stability and (4) addressable through a concerted global response. By reviewing the population control movement and the past, present and possible future of the AIDS response, we examine the evolution of the global crisis model and its consequences in shaping development priorities, problems and solutions. We argue that the model mobilises significant financial resources, but it skews the allocation of development assistance, creates narrow, technical interventions, and fails to examine or remedy the social inequalities that produce health and development disparities.