International Journal of Health Policy and Management

International Journal of Health Policy and Management

The Paradox of Health Policy: Revealing the True Colours of This ‘Chameleon Concept’; Comment on “The Politics and Analytics of Health Policy”

Document Type : Commentary

Author
Mark Exworthy
Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
10.15171/ijhpm.2014.49
Abstract
Health policy has been termed a ‘chameleon concept’, referring to its ability to take on different forms of disciplinarity as well as different roles and functions. This paper extends Paton’s analysis by exploring the paradox of health policy as a field of academic inquiry—sitting across many of the boundaries of social science but also marginalised by them. It situates contemporary approaches within disciplinary traditions, explaining its inter- and multi-disciplinary character. It also presents a ‘way of seeing’ health policy in terms of three axes: central/local, profession/management, and health/healthcare. The paper concludes with a call for a new research agenda which recognises health policy’s pedigree but also one which carves a distinctive future of relevance and rigour.
Keywords
Health Policy
Context
Power, Implementation
Subjects
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  • Received Date 25 April 2014
  • Revised Date 15 May 2014
  • Accepted Date 15 May 2014
  • First Published Date 01 June 2014
  • Published Date 01 June 2014