Home Articles List Article Information
International Journal of Health Policy and Management
Journal Archive
Volume Volume 6 (2017)
Volume Volume 5 (2016)
Volume Volume 4 (2015)
Volume Volume 3 (2014)
Volume Volume 2 (2014)
Volume Volume 1 (2013)
Schrecker, T. (2017). “Stop, You’re Killing us!” An Alternative Take on Populism and Public Health; Comment on “The Rise of Post-truth Populism in Pluralist Liberal Democracies: Challenges for Health Policy”. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 6(11), 673-675.
Ted Schrecker. "“Stop, You’re Killing us!” An Alternative Take on Populism and Public Health; Comment on “The Rise of Post-truth Populism in Pluralist Liberal Democracies: Challenges for Health Policy”". International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 6, 11, 2017, 673-675.
Schrecker, T. (2017). '“Stop, You’re Killing us!” An Alternative Take on Populism and Public Health; Comment on “The Rise of Post-truth Populism in Pluralist Liberal Democracies: Challenges for Health Policy”', International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 6(11), pp. 673-675.
Schrecker, T. “Stop, You’re Killing us!” An Alternative Take on Populism and Public Health; Comment on “The Rise of Post-truth Populism in Pluralist Liberal Democracies: Challenges for Health Policy”. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 2017; 6(11): 673-675.

“Stop, You’re Killing us!” An Alternative Take on Populism and Public Health; Comment on “The Rise of Post-truth Populism in Pluralist Liberal Democracies: Challenges for Health Policy”

Article 7, Volume 6, Issue 11, November 2017, Page 673-675  XML PDF (418 K)
Document Type: Commentary
Author
Ted Schrecker
School of Medicine, Pharmacy and Health, Durham University, Stockton-on-Tees, UK
Abstract
Ewen Speed and Russell Mannion correctly identify several contours of the challenges for health policy in what it is useful to think of as a post-democratic era. I argue that the problem for public health is not populism per se, but rather the distinctive populism of the right coupled with the failure of the left to develop compelling counternarratives. Further, defences of ‘science’ must be tempered by recognition of the unavoidably political dimensions of the (mis)use of scientific findings in public policy.
Keywords
Populism; Post-democracy; Science; Standards of Proof
Main Subjects
Health Politics
References
  1. Speed E, Mannion R. The rise of post-truth populism in pluralist liberal democracies: challenges for health policy. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2017;6(5):249-251. doi:10.15171/ijhpm.2017.19
  2. Inglehart RF; Norris P. Trump, Brexit, and the Rise of Populism: Economic Have-Nots and Cultural Backlash, HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series. RWP16-026. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Kennedy School; 2016. https://research.hks.harvard.edu/publications/getFile.aspx?Id=1401.   
  3. Zakaria F. The Rise of Illiberal Democracy. Foreign Aff. 1997;76(6):22-43.
  4. Freedom House. Freedom in the World 2017 - Populists and Autocrats: The Dual Threat to Global Democracy. Washington, DC: Freedom House; 2017. https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/FH_FIW_2017_Report_Final.pdf.   
  5. Diamond L. Facing up to the democratic recession. Journal of Democracy. 2015;26:141-155.
  6. Robinson WI, Harris J. Towards a global ruling class? Globalization and the transnational capitalist class. Sci Soc. 2000;64:11-54.
  7. Carroll WK. The Making of a Transnational Capitalist Class: Corporate Power in the 21st Century. London: Zed Books; 2010.
  8. Carroll WK, Sapinski JP. Neoliberalism and the transnational capitalist class. In: Birch K, MacLeavy J, Springer S, eds. The Handbook of Neoliberalism. London: Routledge; 2016:25-35.
  9. Sklair L. The Transnational capitalist class, social movements, and alternatives to capitalist globalization. International Critical Thought. 2016;6:329-341.
  10. Sherman S.  How Will We Live with the Tumult? Fortune. December 13, 1993:123-125.
  11. Useem M. Investor Capitalism: How Money Managers are Changing the Face of Corporate America. New York: Basic Books; 1996.
  12. Rattner S. If Productivity’s Rising, Why Are Jobs Paying Less? New York Times. September 19, 1993.
  13. Schrecker T, Bambra C. How Politics Makes Us Sick: Neoliberal Epidemics. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan; 2015.
  14. Illness as indicator: Local health outcomes predict Trumpward swings.  The Economist. November  19, 2016.
  15. Brunner J. The Sheep Look Up. New York: Harper & Row; 1972.
  16. Maynard A. Shrinking the state: the fate of the NHS and social care. J R Soc Med. 2017;110(2):49-51.  doi:10.1177/0141076816686923
  17. Green M, Dorling D, Minton J. The geography of a rapid rise in elderly mortality in England and Wales, 2014-15. Health Place. 2017;44:77-85. doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2017.02.002
  18. Michaels D, Monforton C. Manufacturing uncertainty: contested science and the protection of the public’s health and environment. Am J Public Health. 2005;95:S39-S48.
  19. Michaels D. Scientific Evidence and Public Policy. Am J Public Health. 2005;95:S5-S7.
  20. Michaels D. Manufactured Uncertainty. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2006;1076:149-162.
  21. Bergman A, Becher G, Blumberg B, et al. Manufacturing doubt about endocrine disrupter science - A rebuttal of industry-sponsored critical comments on the UNEP/WHO report ‘State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals 2012.’ Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 2015;73:1007-1017.
  22. World Health Organization, United Nations Environment Programme. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  http://www.ipcc.ch.     
  23. Page T. A generic view of toxic chemicals and similar risks. Ecol Law Q. 1978;7:207-244.
  24. Paigen B. Controversy at Love Canal. Hastings Cent Rep. 1982;12(3):29-37.
Statistics
Article View: 2,310
PDF Download: 601