Healthcare governance, professions and populism: Is there a relationship? An explorative comparison of five European countries

A new wave of support for populist parties and movements represents a serious threat to universal healthcare coverage in traditional liberal democracies and beyond. This article aims to contribute empirical material on the relationships between healthcare governance, professions and populism. It applies an explanatory cross-country comparative approach and uses mixed methods, including micro-level data garnered from international comparative databases and documents. Denmark, England, Germany, Italy and Turkey have been selected for comparison, reflecting different types of healthcare systems and populist movements. The results reveal variety in the ways populist discourses impact in healthcare. Abundant economic resources, network-based governance, high levels of trust in healthcare providers and doctors participating as insiders in the policy process seem to work as a bulwark against populist attacks on healthcare and professional expertise. On the other hand, poorly resourced NHS systems with doctors as outsiders in the policy process and major NPM reforms together with low to medium levels of trust in healthcare providers may be fertile ground for populist discourse to flourish. Our explanatory data provide hints of correlations, which may inform further studies to investigate causality. Yet the research highlights that healthcare governance and professions matter, and brings into view capacity for counteracting populist attacks on universal healthcare and professional knowledge

Forum introduction: Revisiting targeting and universalism

Cook S, Agartan T, Kaasch A. Forum introduction: Revisiting targeting and universalism. Global Social Policy. 2022

Regional social policies: aspirations, vernacularisation, or new forms of solidarity?

Kaasch A, Shriwise A, Agartan T, Cook S, Seekings J, Sukhampha R. Regional social policies: aspirations, vernacularisation, or new forms of solidarity? In: De Lombaerde P, ed. Handbook of Regional Cooperation and Integration. Edward Elgar Publishing; 2024: 243-265.This chapter provides an overview of the emergence and spread of regional social policies and their potential to transform transnational governance. It therefore examines the multiple meanings of regional social policies, reviews the reasons for their emergence, and provides concise reviews of several regional social policies that have been developed and implemented. The transformative potential of regional social policies is discussed, with a reflection on recent global crises. The chapter concludes that regional social policies are increasingly important in facilitating policy development and a common discourse and are characterised by complex, interactive processes between associated countries, with global interests and influences shaping their ideas and discourses. The chapter highlights the need for more knowledge at the intersection of regional social policies and calls for further comparative analysis of different regional social policies. It also shows that regional social policy is not just a function of interest or capability in terms of developing such policies but also about a reluctance of member states to provide the regional level with the competency to regulate and implement social policies. Finally, the chapter suggests that regional organisations can amplify the voice of smaller states in international politics and regional cooperation