Western Europe Studies: Health

Abstract

The health domain has served as a focal point for investigating the emergence and extension of state capacities for social governance in Western Europe. Governance, in this case, refers to efforts by governments to intervene in the private provision of medical services. Studies of health politics have focused on the history of health insurance, emphasizing conflicts amongst doctors and other interest groups (such as unions and employer associations), insurance carriers (sickness funds), and governments. Studies of health governance investigate the efficacy of various mechanisms for the control of healthcare costs and the delivery of health services, including state, market, and association (corporatism). From a long-term, historical comparative perspective, the professionalization of the medical profession, the social control interests of states in governing the health domain, the definitions of health, disease, and contagion that emerged, and the possible waning of state sovereignty have occupied scholars within and studying Western Europe.