Policy Makes Politics; Comment on “Modelling the Health Policy Process: One Size Fits All or Horses for Courses?”

Document Type : Commentary

Author

1 Health Management and Policy, Global Public Health, and Political Science, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

2 European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels, Belgium

Abstract

Powell and Mannion’s review of reviews maps the landscape of health policy research, showing a number of problematic and longstanding features. This commentary focuses on the extent to which health parochialism is good for the scientific development of the literature, the extent to which a “tournament of theories” actually develops our understanding of health policy process, and, finally, whether circumscribed theories of the policy process might be missing some of the most important and useful findings of broader comparative politics, which focus on the ways policies create politics over time. It concludes that health parochialism and focus on a circumscribed policy process is not likely to be helpful because it distracts attention from the ways in which coalitions and institutions over time shape politics and policy, a finding explored by scholars of many sectors whose findings should influence health policy research.

Keywords

References

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International Journal of Health Policy and Management

Articles in Press, Corrected Proof
Available Online from 19 August 2023

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History

  • Receive Date: 13 April 2023
  • Revise Date: 15 August 2023
  • Accept Date: 16 August 2023
  • First Publish Date: 19 August 2023

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