Issue Competition and the Social Construction of Target Populations: Alternative Suggestions for the Study of the Influence of Populist Radical Right Parties on Health Policy and Health Outcomes; Comment on “A Scoping Review of Populist Radical Right Parties’ Influence on Welfare Policy and its Implications for Population Health in Europe”

Document Type : Commentary

Authors

1 Departement of Political Science, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada

2 Faculty of Nursing, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada

3 School of Administration Sciences, Université TÉLUQ, Québec, QC, Canada

Abstract

Rinaldi and Bekker ask whether populist radical right (PRR) parties have an influence on population health and health equity. The assumption is that this influence is negative, but mediated by political system characteristics. Starting from the authors’ premise that the positions of PRR parties on welfare policies are a good proxy for health outcomes, we build on political science literature to suggest further avenues for research. The equivocal relationship between political parties and the ownership of specific healthcare, health insurance and public health issues invites studies that break down party positions relating to different health policy issues. As policy-makers use social representations of target populations to make policy decisions and anticipate the feedback these decisions might generate, it is worth studying how PRR parties influence societal, institutional and partisan perceptions of deserving and undeserving populations, even when they are not in government.

Keywords

References

  1. Rinaldi C, Bekker MPM. A scoping review of populist radical right parties' influence on welfare policy and its implications for population health in Europe. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2020. doi:10.34172/ijhpm.2020.48
  2. Rose R. Do Parties Make a Difference? Chatham, NJ: Chatham House Publishers; 1980.
  3. Blais A, Blake D, Dion S. Do parties make a difference? a reappraisal. Am J Pol Sci. 1996;40(2):514-516. doi:10.2307/2111635
  4. Schmidt MG. When parties matter: a review of the possibilities and limits of partisan influence on public policy. Eur J Polit Res. 1996;30(2):155-183. doi:10.1111/j.1475-6765.1996.tb00673.x
  5. Hart JT. The inverse care law. Lancet. 1971;1(7696):405-412. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(71)92410-x
  6. Schrecker T, Bambra C. How Politics Makes Us Sick: Neoliberal Epidemics. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan; 2015.
  7. Persico S, Froio C, Guinaudeau I. Action publique et partis politiques. L'analyse de l'agenda législatif français entre 1981 et 2007. Gouvernement & Action Publique. 2012;1(1):11-35. doi:10.3917/gap.121.0011 
  8. Falkenbach M, Bekker M, Greer SL. Do parties make a difference? a review of partisan effects on health and the welfare state. Eur J Public Health. 2019. doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckz133
  9. Green-Pedersen C. New public management reforms of the Danish and Swedish welfare states: the role of different social democratic responses. Governance. 2002;15(2):271-294. doi:10.1111/1468-0491.00188
  10. Ross F. ‘Beyond left and right’: the new partisan politics of welfare. Governance. 2000;13(2):155-183. doi:10.1111/0952-1895.00127
  11. Häusermann S, Picot G, Geering D. Review article: rethinking party politics and the welfare state – recent advances in the literature. Br J Polit Sci. 2013;43(1):221-240. doi:10.1017/s0007123412000336
  12. Maioni A. Parting at the crossroads: the development of health insurance in Canada and the United States, 1940-1965. Comp Polit. 1997;29(4):411-431. doi:10.2307/422012
  13. Mackenbach JP, McKee M. Social-democratic government and health policy in Europe: a quantitative analysis. Int J Health Serv. 2013;43(3):389-413. doi:10.2190/HS.43.3.b
  14. Bernier NF. L'évolution récente de la promotion de la santé dans trois provinces canadiennes. In: O'Neill M, Dupéré S, Pederson A, Rootman I, eds. Promotion de la santé au Canada et au Québec, perspectives critiques. Laval: Presses de l'Université Laval; 2006:205-220.
  15. Dye TR. Understanding Public Policy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall; 1972.
  16. Schneider AL, Ingram HM. Social constructions, anticipatory feedback strategies, and deceptive public policy. Policy Stud J. 2019;47(2):206-236. doi:10.1111/psj.12281
  17. Donabedian A. Chapter 1: Social values. In: Donabedian A, ed. Aspects of Medical Care Administration: Specifying Requirements for Health Care. Cambridge: Harvard University Press; 1973:1-30.
International Journal of Health Policy and Management
Volume 10, Issue 9
September 2021
Pages 591-593

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 16 July 2020
  • Revise Date: 10 August 2020
  • Accept Date: 11 August 2020
  • First Publish Date: 01 September 2021

Share

How to cite

Statistics