17May 2011
News about procedures and preparations for IPSA World Congress in Madrid (July 2012)
19:47 - By James Björkman
The next major event for RC25 is IPSA’s 22nd World Congress in
Important deadlines for the World Congress are as follows:
As of now, two panels have been floated for consideration by RC25 members: “Health Policy Analysis” and “The Changing Architecture of Global Health Governance”. Those interested in the former should contact Jeni Vaitsman and/or Monika Steffen (vaitsman@uol.com.br and monika.steffen@iep-grenoble.fr); those interested in the latter should contact Pieter Fourie (ppfourie@gmail.com) who has provided the following description for guidance:
The pendulum of global health governance is swinging rapidly. In the realm of ideas, the move from the post-World War II biomedical governance model to the socio-behavioural model seemed to conclude with the 1972 Alma Ata Declaration. However, medical triumphalism is making a dramatic comeback. During the past decade, global health governance has come to refer to mechanisms of surveillance in terms of the post-9/11 securitization fad as well as the institutions established transnationally. The Paris Declaration (2007) framework on global development aid was intended to create a global health governance architecture that would be democratic, consultative and in tune with the health governance realities of developing countries. However, this aspiration has derailed as donors in the global north shift their priorities. Even funding and governance architecture for the AIDS pandemic (the 'donor darling' of recent years) has become unattractive. Given the flux in global health governance, this panel invites papers that address, describe and explain the tensions that shape and determine governance modalities.
Finally, RC25 is cooperating with RC32 (on Public Policy and Administration) and with the Public Policy Group of the Belgian Association of Political Science for a joint session on “Patient Empowerment and Democratic Policy: Political Challenges and Theoretical Issues”. To describe the topic, there is an inherent tension between the democratic value of equality and the evidence of inequality in the organizing of social existence – for example, in the workplace and in the family. The late 20th century has seen significant mobilization of state authority to redress some of this inequality – by the imposition of notions of due process in employment relations and by an emerging discourse about the rights of children.
Medical treatment, however, remains a problematic area because the doctor/patient relationship is inherently unequal – even if a patient hires the services of a doctor. Hospital patients tend to be regarded as having little knowledge of their needs and even less capacity to determine what will happen to them.
It can be argued that this situation is being challenged by a number of paradigm shifts in health care. One is the spread of discourses of participation and empowerment in governing. A related (but distinct) shift is the rationalization of medical care, the codification of what was formerly the personal exercise of professional skill, involving changes in the power relations within the hospital – for example, the mapping of a ‘patient pathway’ that might be given to the patient and used as the basis for performance review. There is also an increasing stress on health as the management of the self rather than the professional provision of curative services as well as recognition that long-term conditions like diabetes require a care regime with the active involvement (not just compliance) of the patient and his/her support team.
Papers are invited which address any aspect of this issue, particularly those blending empirical observation with conceptual/analytical development. If interested, contact Hal Colebatch (hal@colebatch.com).