Making Health Policy

Andy Alaszewski is Professor of Health Policy at the University of Kent, Canterbury. Patrick Brown is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Amsterdam.

• PrefaceIntroduction1. What is health policy?Part 1 Rationality in policy making2. Trying to achieve rational health policy: the search for appropriate knowledge and expertise3. The competition for money and the limits of instrumental rationality4. Power and influence in policy making: Policy communities and networks5. The pressure of events: Disasters, inquiries and the dynamics of blamePart 2 The limits of rationality in policy making6. Identifying health and social problems: Competition between interest groups and claims making7. How does the nature of modern democracy shape the formation of health policy?8. Ideology and policy: legitimating, bounding and framing9. The impact of the media on health policy makingPart 3 Conclusion10. So how and why are health policies made? Some final commentsReferences

"This readable and accessible book provides many novel insights into the policy-making process, a broad span of well-chosen historical and contemporary health examples, and a range of perspectives to consider in relation to the analysis of health policy making."Health Sociology Review"This introductory text offers a novel approach to health policy making, challenging the conception of policy as a rational process. Written in an accessible style it is essential reading for undergraduate students of health policy."Jonathan Gabe, Royal Holloway, University of London "This book should be essential reading for any student interested in engaging with and critically reflecting on how health policy is shaped in contemporary society. Drawing on well chosen historical and contemporary examples, Making Health Policy engages with the complex, contingent, and contested arena of health policy making. Students will find the valuable insights provided in this book enormously useful in understanding contemporary and ongoing debates around the fashioning of health policy."Nick Emmel, University of Leeds"Alaszewski and Brown's historical reach and deep understanding of health policy going back 30 years makes this a highly readable, original, insightful and well-informed study that also manages to be remarkably up-to-date. Recommended reading for everyone interested in how health policy gets made and why it doesn't always happen as intended."David J. Hunter, Durham University