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The Battle Over America's VA Hospitals
Author(s) -
Frantz Janet
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
politics and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.259
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1747-1346
pISSN - 1555-5623
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-1346.2002.tb00133.x
Subject(s) - battle , bureaucracy , context (archaeology) , government (linguistics) , closure (psychology) , politics , closing (real estate) , scholarship , craft , political science , public relations , public administration , law , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , biology , history
This research puts efforts to close the Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA) medical centers under the microscope of termination scholarship in order to more completely understand the process of closing down public programs. Closure forces have clearly reached deep into the bag of strategies available to government when it wishes to change the behavior of either private citizens or, in this case, its own bureaucracies. The research, though unique in its details to VA, suggests much about the broader challenges of closing public programs. Closure efforts are ultimately political as well as managerial. Cost‐benefits analyses are not enough to lead to termination. Policy makers will find it essential to examine the political context of each targeted program and to craft strategies patiently, creatively, and carefully that progressively weaken the resolve and capabilities of beneficiaries and constituencies of the program. Only then will termination efforts succeed.