Polycentrism in Global Health Governance Scholarship; Comment on “Four Challenges That Global Health Networks Face”

Document Type : Commentary

Author

Institute of Political Science, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany

Abstract

Drawing on an in-depth analysis of eight global health networks, a recent essay in this journal argued that global health networks face four challenges to their effectiveness: problem definition, positioning, coalition-building, and governance. While sharing the argument of the essay concerned, in this commentary, we argue that these analytical concepts can be used to explicate a concept that has implicitly been used in global health governance scholarship for quite a few years. While already prominent in the discussion of climate change governance, for instance, global health governance scholarship could make progress by looking at global health governance as being polycentric. Concisely, polycentric forms of governance mix scales, mechanisms, and actors. Drawing on the essay, we propose a polycentric approach to the study of global health governance that incorporates coalitionbuilding tactics, internal governance and global political priority as explanatory factors.

Keywords

Main Subjects


  1. Collin J, Lee K, Bissell K. The framework convention on tobacco control: the politics of global health governance. Third World Quarterly. 2002;23(2):265-282. 
  2. Hill PS. Understanding global health governance as a complex adaptive system. Glob Public Health. 2011;6(6):593-605. doi:10.1080/17441691003762108
  3. Frenk J, Moon S. Governance Challenges in Global Health. N Engl J Med. 2013;368(10):936-942. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1109339
  4. Shiffman J. Four Challenges that Global Health Networks Face. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2017;6(4):183-189. doi:10.15171/ijhpm.2017.14
  5. Bernstein S. Legitimacy in Intergovernmental and Non-State Global Governance. Rev Int Polit Econ. 2011;18(1):17-51. 
  6. Abbott KW. The transnational regime complex for climate change. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy. 2012;30:571-590. 
  7. Cole DH. From global to polycentric climate governance. Climate Law. 2011;2:395-413. 
  8. Cole DH. Advantages of a polycentric approach to climate change policy. Nat Clim Chang. 2015;5(2):114-118. doi:10.1038/nclimate2490
  9. Jordan AJ, Huitema D, Hildén M, et al. Emergence of polycentric climate governance and its future prospects. Nat Clim Chang. 2015;5(11):977-982. doi:10.1038/nclimate2725
  10. Ostrom E. Polycentric systems for coping with collective action and global environmental change. Glob Environ Change. 2010;20:550-557. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2010.07.004
  11. Sovacool BK. An international comparison of four polycentric approaches to climate and energy governance. Energy Policy. 2011;39(6):3832-3844. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2011.04.014
  12. Ooms G, Beiersmann C, Flores W, et al. Synergies and tensions between universal health coverage and global health security: why we need a second ‘maximizing positive synergies’ initiative. BMJ Glob Health. 2017;2(1):e000217. Doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2016-000217
  13. Van de Pas R, Hill PS, Hammonds R, et al. Global health governance in the sustainable development goals: is it grounded in the right to health? Global Challenges. 2017;1(1):47-60. doi:10.1002/gch2.1022
  14. Persson Å, Weitz N, Nilsson M. Follow-up and review of the sustainable development goals: alignment vs. internalization. Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law. 2016;25(1):59-68. doi:10.1111/reel.12150
  15. Shiffman J, Schmitz HP, Berlan D, et al. The emergence and effectiveness of global health networks: findings and future research. Health Policy Plan. 2016;31(Suppl 1):i110-i123. doi:10.1093/heapol/czw012
  16. Schattschneider E. The Semi-Sovereign People. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; 1960. 
  17. Ney S. Making sense of the global health crisis: policy narratives, conflict, and global health governance. J Health Polit Policy Law. 2012;37(2):253-295. doi:10.1215/03616878-1538620