Welfare state governance is about tackling social issues, empowering citizens, and adding societal value. It is also about improving public health and quality of life, alleviating inequality, and reducing social polarization. Bringing together researchers from around the world, this volume examines how politics, policies and services contribute to the strengthening of societal value. It assesses the societal impact of policies and professional actions, the ways in which social inequalities...

There are significant variations in how healthcare systems and health professionals are regulated globally. One feature that they increasingly have in common is an emphasis on the value of including members of the public in quality assurance processes. While many argue that this will help better serve the public interest, others question how far the changing regulatory reform agenda is still dominated by medical interests.Bringing together leading academics worldwide, this collecti...

The book examines ongoing dynamics within the organizational fields of health and higher education, with a focus on collective (public universities and hospitals) and individual (professionals) actors, structures, processes and institutional logics. The fact that universities and hospitals share a number of important characteristics, both being hybrid organizations, professional bureaucracies, and operating within highly institutionalised environments, they are also characterised by their ...