Reviews

"Remaking Policy is, quite simply, one of the most significant and innovative works on the comparative politics of public policy of the last thirty years. Central to its contribution is a novel analysis of temporal features of policy change. As Tuohy points out, policy changes differ not merely in what they seek to do, but also in how rapidly they seek to do it: while some reforms are enacted in a single burst, others unfold gradually over long periods of time. Drawing on a wealth of comparative-historical evidence from four advanced democracies, she shows how different configurations of political conditions generate differently paced reforms and demonstrates that the speed of policy change has major implications for its outcomes. Painstakingly researched and elegantly crafted, Remaking Policy is sure to leave an enduring mark on historical-institutionalist debates about the causes and character of policy and institutional development." - Alan M. Jacobs, University of British Columbia

"Remaking Policy gives scholarly communities, including political scientists interested in theories of change in the welfare state, and scholars of comparative health policy and politics a new interpretation of political dynamics and a sophisticated set of case studies." - Joseph White, Case Western Reserve University

“My doubts about some of Tuohy’s specific arguments and conclusions … do not diminish my admiration for an outstanding work of scholarship. No other scholar has tried to master four national accounts of reform over the decades or done so with such analytic sophistication and command of the scholarly literature.” - Rudolf Klein, Emeritus Professor of Social Policy, Bath University, in Health Economics, Policy and Law

“Remaking Policy is a formidable effort that attempts to push thinking about health reform well beyond tired paradigms and explanatory frameworks. It is thorough, inventive, and intellectually engaging. It will no doubt define comparative health policy analysis for years to come.” - Katherine Fierlbeck, Dalhousie University, in Canadian Journal of Political Science

“[Tuohy’s] carefully researched analysis makes a compelling case for a more nuanced understanding of policy change, beyond a dichotomized typology and an institutionally patterned calculus, that accounts for the fundamental agency of policy actors. The framework, constructed around her novel axis of scale and pace, usefully categorizes and describes the strategic choices of actors and the ensuing patterns of policy change. Through her extensive research on health systems, Tuohy develops a model of strategic choice that can be fruitfully applied across a wide range of issue areas.” - Vandna Bhatia, Carleton University, in Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice

“Carolyn Tuohy, who previously wrote one of the best comparative studies of how political and health care institutions interacted to shape and constrain health policy [Accidental Logics, 1999] has written a sort of mirror image book about why and how leaders try to reform. It is an empirical and theoretical landmark in health politics, social policy and comparative politics. … Politics is the art of the possible – a truism, but a true one. Identifying what is possible is much of the art of the policymaker, and the best policymakers are therefore the ones likeliest to belie political science generalizations about what is and isn’t possible in their countries. Tuohy
brings us further towards understanding institutional change and leadership and, in the course of doing so, gives us the best comparative health policy study published in years – since her last one, in fact.” - Scott L. Greer, University of Michigan, in Journal of Social Policy

Tuohy’s method is first to establish a conceptual model of the health policy-making process, then to use comparative cases to explore it empirically. Her aim is to derive generalisable observations applicable to other countries and to other fields of policy. This approach is not always beloved of historical scholars. … Reading Tuohy is therefore instructive, not simply for the history that she unfolds, but for gleaning what, in expert hands, a ‘framework’ approach can offer. … Tuohy convincingly shows us that the core considerations are the scale and pace of a proposed reform, within the institutional context conferred by history. Effective politicians are those who calibrate carefully the ambition of policy objectives against the timetable required to embed them, in light of the current and future influence their party wields. Success comes to those who choose the right strategy according to this calculus, and make a realistic appraisal of the legislative obstacle course and passage to implementation. These are powerful and important lessons that anyone venturing into the terrain ought to heed. They also speak to concerned citizens, wondering which mode of constitutional government might best serve the public interest. - Martin Gorsky, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in Reviews in History

[T]his book illustrates in ample and readable detail how reform strategists in particular institutional contexts made consequential policy choices. The strategies selected—and the stories of how policy entrepreneurs pursued them—are analytical policy histories of great scholarly depth. …[Nonetheless] Tuohy did not have in mind the conventional aim of focusing on the content of policies themselves. She wants instead to provide a guide to how policy reformers responded to political opportunities and whether their strategies of pace and scope were or were not successful. ….Carolyn Hughes Tuohy’s book will surely prompt serious challenge but that in itself is testimony of her scholary contribution. This book should stimulate interest in both the reform histories and the application of her theoretical approach to fields distant from the politics of health reform’s scope and pace. - Theodore R. Marmor, Yale University, in Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law

Other journal reviews will be added as they are published.