European perspectives on global health: a policy glossary

4. Europe must establish a societal dialogue for global health
Global policy networks
Policy communities are no longer purely
national – an extensive exchange takes place
between like-minded actors at multiple levels
of governance through policy networks and
leads to exchange on policies, innovation
and experiences. Europe needs to increase its
engagement in policy networks at global level.
Policy communities that were previously national have
become increasingly open to global influence and are
increasingly interlinked in a system of global governance.
Slaughter states in her influential book on policy networks :
“Understanding ’domestic’ issues in a regional or
global context must become part of doing a good job.
Increasingly, the optimal solutions to these issues will
depend on what is happening abroad, and the solutions
to foreign issues, in corresponding measure, by what is
happening at home.” Thus, even policies enacted at the
national level may be considered global to the extent
that they are co-determined by global policy actors. An
increasing number of such policy networks in health have
been created and are engaged in active exchange and
policy transfer. The <strong>European</strong> open method of coordination
introduced by the <strong>European</strong> Council of Lisbon in March
2000 is very important to such mechanisms, providing
policy actors in health the opportunity to exchange
experiences widely and a range of special mechanisms,
regular meetings and conferences, websites and
publications support this effort.
Similar exchanges happen in the global health arena,
with specialist groups meeting to discuss issues
related to global governance in general, but even
more so on specific health care reforms and diseasebased
approaches. The WHO expert committees and
meetings allow for debate and a seeking of consensus
that is presented to the World Health Assembly after
acceptance in the specialist arena. In particular,
foundations enable projects and meetings to explore
innovations in health. New think tanks have emerged
– particularly in the US – that operate in a transnational
space and influence the global governance process.
Analysts maintain that global policy networks
are gaining increasing influence as information
technology allows for the rapid sharing of knowledge
and the pressure for reform at country level increases.
Global Health Policy Glossary
Some case studies show that a relatively small group
of people have been able to influence both global
and national policy development in health in this way
through affiliation with international organisations
and major foundations. In response there has been
a move to ensure more accountability through
involving yet other networks such as parliamentarians,
who are accountable to an electorate. Increasingly,
parliamentarians – for example though the Inter-
Parliamentary Union – want to play a more active and
an oversight role in global governance.
Very little analytical work has been done on the global
policy processes for global health yet it appears that it is
dominated by the United States and the English-speaking
world and is influential in both developed and developing
countries. A particularly attractive way to co-determine
national policy development by global policy actors is to
engage in in-depth country studies and reviews.
Action : <strong>European</strong> actors – in particular foundations
– should study the increasing importance of policy
networks in global governance and apply the results to
an engaged effort to promote <strong>European</strong> <strong>perspectives</strong>
to global health. They should contribute further to
establishing global norms for action in policy networks
in close cooperation with developing countries.
References
Brooks, S. M. “International Financial Institutions and the
Diffusion of Foreign Models for Social Security Reform in
Latin America”, in Weyland, K. ( ed. ) Learning from Foreign
Models in Latin American Policy Reform. Washington, DC
and Baltimore : Woodrow Wilson Centre, 2004.
Deacon, B. Global Social Policy : International Organisations
and the Future of Welfare. London : Sage Publications, 1997.
Kingdon, J.W. Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies.
New York : HarperCollins College Publishers, 1995.
Council of the <strong>European</strong> Union. Presidency Conclusions of
the Lisbon <strong>European</strong> Council. Accessed on 21 May 2006.
Orenstein, M.A. and Haas, M.R. “Globalisation and the
Development of Welfare States in Central and Eastern
Europe”, in Glatzer, M. and Rueschemeyer, D. ( eds. )
Globalisation and the Future of the Welfare State.
Pittsburgh : University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005.
Slaughter, A.M. A New World Order. Princeton and Oxford :
Princeton University Press, 2004.
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