Evidence and Power in EU Governance of Health Promotion: Discursive Obstacles to a “Health in All Policies” Approach

Godziewski, Charlotte

doi:10.1111/jcms.13042

Cited by 13 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…A rare exception is trade in tobacco, where the parties involved can draw on the provisions of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. This is different from the situation within the EU Single Market, with the European treaties stating that a high level of human health shall form part of the EU's policieseven if some have criticised the subordination of health policy to neoliberal market logics [92].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Brexit and trade policy: an analysis of the governance of UK trade policy and what it means for health and social justice

et al. 2021

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Background There is an extensive body of research demonstrating that trade and globalisation can have wide-ranging implications for health. Robust governance is key to ensuring that health, social justice and sustainability are key considerations within trade policy, and that health risks from trade are effectively mitigated and benefits are maximised. The UK’s departure from the EU provides a rare opportunity to examine a context where trade governance arrangements are being created anew, and to explore the consequences of governance choices and structures for health and social justice. Despite its importance to public health, there has been no systematic analysis of the implications of UK trade policy governance. We therefore conducted an analysis of the governance of the UK’s trade policy from a public health and social justice perspective. Results Several arrangements required for good governance appear to have been implemented – information provision, public consultation, accountability to Parliament, and strengthening of civil service capacity. However, our detailed analyses of these pillars of governance identified significant weaknesses in each of these areas. Conclusion The establishment of a new trade policy agenda calls for robust systems of governance. However, our analysis demonstrates that, despite decades of mounting evidence on the health and equity impacts of trade and the importance of strong systems of governance, the UK government has largely ignored this evidence and failed to galvanise the opportunity to include public health and equity considerations and strengthen democratic involvement in trade policy. This underscores the point that the evidence alone will not guarantee that health and justice are prioritised. Rather, we need strong systems of governance everywhere that can help seize the health benefits of international trade and minimise its detrimental impacts. A failure to strengthen governance risks poor policy design and implementation, with unintended and inequitable distribution of harms, and ‘on-paper’ commitments to health, social justice, and democracy unfulfilled in practice. Although the detailed findings relate to the situation in the UK, the issues raised are, we believe, of wider relevance for those with an interest of governing for health in the area of international trade.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Brexit and trade policy: an analysis of the governance of UK trade policy and what it means for health and social justice

et al. 2021

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“…For example, in the face of social policy changes, Copeland and Daly (2018) show that the EU's interest and promotion for the market economy is detrimental to people's social entitlements. Where the European Commission only takes into account a range of specific evidence in order to design health policies, Godziewski (2020) exposes how such methodology, in turn, reinforces neoliberal rationality and undermines societal wellbeing broadly understood. Other research shows the limitation of existing institutions to guarantee human rights in times of crises.…”

Section: What Have I Learnt About Research On Europe and Comparative ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Editing ‘Europe’: Reflections from Inside, Outside and Beyond

Haastrup

MacRae

Masselot

et al. 2022

J of Common Market Studies

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“…A decade of Platform experience was suggested to represent evidence justifying the institutionalization of multistakeholder rationale in the area of NCD prevention and health promotion. This discursive legitimation through common sense and reasonableness, appears in stark contrast with the otherwise largely predominant legitimation discourse based on 'specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound' (SMART) scientific evidence (European Commission n.d.; Godziewski, 2020). In relation to the EU Diet Platform, SMART evidence tends to lead more towards information on the extent to which commitments are implemented, rather than regarding whether these commitments are actually making a difference.…”

Section: The Discursive Legitimation Of the Multistakeholder Rationalementioning

confidence: 99%

Is ‘Health in All Policies’ everybody’s responsibility? Discourses of multistakeholderism and the lifestyle drift phenomenon

Godziewski

2020

Critical Policy Studies

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In relation to health promotion, the lifestyle drift is a phenomenon whereby health policymakers begin with a recognition of the social, political and economic determinants of health ('distal' determinants of health), only to drift back into designing policies targeted largely at modifying individual behavior ('proximal' determinants of health). Looking at the 'Health in All Policies' (HiAP) agenda in the European Commission (EC), this article investigates the discursive construction of the lifestyle drift. It starts by analyzing why, in the EC context, HiAP is interpreted as inherently about multistakeholder engagement. It then draws on the EU Diet Platform as a contrasting example to explore the relation between this multistakeholder interpretation and the lifestyle drift. The article then unpacks the discursive legitimation of the multistakeholder rationale, and shows how multistakeholder engagement is presented as a reasonable and normatively neutral way to approach public policy problems. Finally, the article critically reflects upon the technocratizing effects of the normatively neutral language deemed to be required of policy-relevant knowledge.

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Evidence and Power in EU Governance of Health Promotion: Discursive Obstacles to a “Health in All Policies” Approach

Cited by 13 publications

References 49 publications

Brexit and trade policy: an analysis of the governance of UK trade policy and what it means for health and social justice

Brexit and trade policy: an analysis of the governance of UK trade policy and what it means for health and social justice

Editing ‘Europe’: Reflections from Inside, Outside and Beyond

Is ‘Health in All Policies’ everybody’s responsibility? Discourses of multistakeholderism and the lifestyle drift phenomenon

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