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Standing Up for Health? Health Departments in EU Health Policy Formulation
Author(s) -
Greer Scott L.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
social policy and administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9515
pISSN - 0144-5596
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9515.2009.00709.x
Subject(s) - government (linguistics) , health policy , german , public administration , power (physics) , control (management) , political science , coalition government , public economics , economics , health care , politics , law , management , philosophy , linguistics , physics , archaeology , quantum mechanics , history
When are health departments and ministers influential across policies? This article looks for an explanation in the variable ability of the French, German and UK health departments to influence their states' approaches to EU health policy‐making. It proposes that the extent of departmental power within government and the likelihood that the government imposes a single line across all its departments explain the variable success of the three health departments in influencing EU policy – some have voice in their government's overall stance on EU matters, as in the UK, some have the ability to escape central control and pursue their own agendas in Brussels, and some have neither, and sometimes find themselves pursuing overall strategies that conflict with their analyses and preferences, as in France. The framework, using exit and voice, should be generalizable to the overall influence of health or other ministries in general government policy.