Making Health Policy – A Critical Introduction

Preface Introduction 1. What is health policy? Part 1 Rationality in policy making 2. Trying to achieve rational health policy: the search for appropriate knowledge and expertise 3. The competition for money and the limits of instrumental rationality 4. Power and influence in policy making: Policy communities and networks 5. The pressure of events: Disasters, inquiries and the dynamics of blame Part 2 The limits of rationality in policy making 6. Identifying health and social problems: Competition between interest groups and claims making 7. How does the nature of modern democracy shape the formation of health policy? 8. Ideology and policy: legitimating, bounding and framing 9. The impact of the media on health policy making Part 3 Conclusion 10. So how and why are health policies made? Some final comments References