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What shapes national responses to EU public procurement policy? The case of health and social services in Norway, Germany and England

Segaard, Signe Bock, Brookes, Nadia, Pahl, Joachim Benedikt (2020) What shapes national responses to EU public procurement policy? The case of health and social services in Norway, Germany and England. Scandanavian Journal of Public Administration, 24 (1). pp. 25-48. ISSN 2001-7405. E-ISSN 2001-7413. (KAR id:99078)

Abstract

This article investigates responses to EU public procurement directives in Norway, England and Germany, with a particular focus on health and social services. We used a comparative national patterns approach to analyse parliamentary debates, consultative statements, the media and interviews with stakeholders.

The literature contains prominent arguments suggesting that health and social service governance regimes are converging on the liberal model. Some authors argue that with its focus on policies which create markets, the EU is a driving force with an increasing relevance for market-based governance practices. However, the role of EU legislation is unclear as procurement regimes in relation to the governance of health and social services constitute a highly ambiguous terrain. Our study enabled us to show that the form of the debate is highly dependent on path-dependent mechanisms and the degree of openness of the national political system that provides channels for interests to be articulated. Indeed, the Norwegian case study serves as an excellent example of why marketisation has not advanced to the degree predicted in the literature: an inclusive and open political system and a strong non-profit health and service sector meant that the non-profit groups managed to turn the debate in their favour.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled keywords: Health and social service provision; Public procurement; Policy advocacy; Political system; Interest groups
Subjects: H Social Sciences
J Political Science
J Political Science > JN Political institutions and public administration (Europe)
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research > Centre for Health Services Studies
Depositing User: Nadia Brookes
Date Deposited: 12 Dec 2022 08:53 UTC
Last Modified: 04 Jul 2023 09:10 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/99078 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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