Why policy needs history (and historians)

Health Economics, Policy, and Law
Virginia Berridge

Abstract

Policy makers like the idea of new initiatives and fresh starts, unencumbered by, even actively overthrowing, what has been done in the past. At the same time, history can be pigeonholed as fusty and antiquarian, dealing with long past events of no relevance to the present. Academic historians are sometimes bound up in their own worlds. The debates central to academe may have little direct relevance to the immediate concerns of policy making. The paper argues that history, as the evidence-based discipline par excellence, is as relevant as other approaches to evidence-based policy making. Case studies can show us the nature of that relevance. How to achieve influence for history also needs discussion. The relationship is not straightforward and will vary according to time and place. History is an interpretative discipline, not just a collection of 'facts'. The paper discusses how historians work and why it is important for policy makers to engage, not just with history, but with historians as well. Historians too need to think about the value of bringing their analysis into policy.

References

May 15, 1991·American Journal of Epidemiology·J P VandenbrouckeH Beukers
Aug 5, 2000·The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health·D Donaldson
Jul 22, 2008·Medical History·Virginia Berridge
Dec 17, 2010·Journal of Anxiety Disorders·Danielle Remmerswaal, Peter Muris
Mar 1, 2015·Journal of Public Health·Walter W Holland

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Citations

Oct 1, 2020·História, ciências, saúde--Manguinhos·Manon Sian Parry

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