Health Policy: An Introduction to Process and Power

by Gill Walt

Overview

Providing an introduction to the way health policies are made and who influences them, this book combines a comparative analytical framework for understanding health policy with a wide range of examples of actual policy choices from North and South.

In its exploration of power, the book focuses on the role of the state in the context of interest groups and other actors. It looks at the nature of political systems and the extent to which participation is encouraged. It also explores issues of global influence, asking how far the North shapes health policies in the South. In its exploration of processes, the book asks how issues get on to the policy agenda, what the processes of formulation are and who the influential actors are.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781856492645
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/01/1994
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.55(d)

About the Author

Gill Walt is Emeritus Professor of International Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Gill Walt is Emeritus Professor of International Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
The analytic framework - The importance of international health policy analysis - The structure of the book - Caveats

2. How Does Politics Affect Participartion in Health Policy?
Why a concern with the state? - Defining the political system - The culture of politics - Exogenous factors that affect policy - Conclusions

3. Power and the Policy Process
Power: who influences policy? -
Process: what is policy and how is policy made? - Is policy making a rational process - Conclusions

4. Setting the Policy Agenda: Who Influences What?
What is the policy agenda - Agenda-setting in politics-as-usual circumstances - Policy change under crisis - Non-decision making - Who sets the agenda? - Conclusions

5. The Government Policy Arena: The Heart of Policy-Making
Political parties: promising and delivering? - The role of the legislature: bark without bite? - The executive: is it in control? - The civil service: running the show? - The position of the ministry of health - The judiciary and the military - Conclusions

6. Can Interest Groups Influence Government Policy?
The definition of an interest group - Networks of influence: policy communities - Non-governmental organizations as interest groups? - Conclusions

7. The International Arena: Who is Driving Policy?
What are the international organizations? - The United Nations system - Making policy in WHO - The influence of member states - International policy networks - Sovereign states or interdependent world? - Conclusions

8. Implementation: Do Those Who Implement Decide?
Theoretical models - Implementation in practice - A strategy for implemenation - Conclusions

9. Evaluation and Research: Feeding Into Policy?
Information from research and evaluations - How do research and evaluation affect policy? - Objective scientists or interested parties? - Impediments to the use of research - Conclusions

10. Power and Process in Shaping Change
Shaping change: power - Shaping change: process

Editorial Reviews

"Anyone who thinks that health policy is simply a matter of finding the best way to improve health should read this thoughtful and readable book which is illustrated with fascinating examples drawn from real life." --Brian Abel-Smith, London School of Economics and Political Science

"Up to now there has been no single book concerning the study of the health policy process. Gill Walt provides the tools with which to analyse it. I shall certainly use her book for teaching health planners and managers from both developed and developing countries." --Carol Barker, Nuffield Institute for Health, Leeds

"Gill Walt approaches health policy from the perspective of actors and processes. This makes her book extremely useful to health policy makers, administrators, health workers and academics. She provides a well written analysis of how health policies are developed. There is nothing comparable for those teaching on health policy and Walt has done us all a great service by filling this notable gap." --Judith Justice, School of Medicine, Univesity of California at San Francisco

"Health systems in many countries, both developing and the more developed, are undergoing major reforms. More than ever, all those involved in health need to understand how health policies are being formulated, adopted and implemented. This clearly written book, with its excellent examples and explanatory text, helps us to understand and analyse the complicated processes involved. It should prove equally valuable to health workers, managers and academics." --Patrick Vaughan, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

From the Publisher

Walt, head of the International Policy Program at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, examines how health policies are formulated and adopted in developed and developing countries. She borrows theories and approaches from the social sciences to create a framework for analysis and to classify how decisions on health care are made in political systems. Covers political systems, the distribution of power in society, policy agenda models, control over policy by government and special interest groups, international organizations and relationships, and policy implementation. Distributed by Humanities Press. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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