Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T13:27:27.914Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

EXCHANGE: EXPLAINING THE PASSAGE OF UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE IN THAILAND

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2020

Joseph Harris  and
Joel Selway Open the ORCID record for Joel Selway [Opens in a new window]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

What explains the passage of Thailand's landmark universal healthcare (UHC) policy? In separate contributions, Selway and Harris emphasized the role of electoral rules and political parties, on one hand, and “professional movements” of developmentally minded state bureaucrats on the other. Which is correct? In this article, Selway and Harris respond to each other's work. While Selway agrees that the actions of the professional movement constitute an underappreciated necessary condition for universal healthcare in Thailand, he argues that Harris overstates the role of the movement in implementation. Harris defends his position and maintains that an institution-focused account is insufficient, arguing that the actions of Thailand's Rural Doctors’ Movement not only explain universal healthcare but also gave rise to the very electoral rule changes that Selway argues were so critical to facilitating universal coverage. Selway responds to these criticisms, and the two researchers jointly consider implications for causation, qualitative research, and policymaking theory.

Keywords

Thailanduniversal healthcareuniversal coverageelectoral rulespolitical institutionspolitical partiesMinistry of Public Healthbureaucratsprofessional movementspolicy process
Type
Article
Information
Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , March 2020 , pp. 99 - 119
Copyright
Copyright © East Asia Institute 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abbott, Andrew. 1988. The System of Professions: An Essay on the Division of Expert Labor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bamber, Scott. 1997. “The Thai Medical Profession and Political Activism.” In Political Change in Thailand: Democracy and Participation, edited by Hewison, Kevin, 233–250. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Brady, Henry E., and Collier, David C., eds. 2004. Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Brown, Phil, and Zavestoski, Stephen, eds. 2005. Social Movements in Health. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
Chambers, Paul. 2005. “Evolving Toward What? Parties, Factions, and Coalition Behavior in Thailand Today.” Journal of East Asian Studies 5 (3): 495–520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, Paul and Purcal, John, eds. 1989. The Political Economy of Primary Health Care in Southeast Asia. Canberra: ASEAN Training Centre for Primary Health Care Development.Google Scholar
Evans, Peter, Rueschemeyer, Dietrich, and Skocpol, Theda. 1985. Bringing the State Back In. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenno, Richard F. Jr. 1978. Home Style: House Members in their Districts. Boston: Little Brown.Google Scholar
Fleck, Fiona. 2014. “Thailand's Health Ambitions Pay Off.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 92 (7): 472–473.Google Scholar
Freidson, Eliot. 1986. Professional Powers. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Haas, Peter. 1992. “Epistemic Communities and International Policy Coordination.” International Organization 46 (1): 1–35.10.1017/S0020818300001442CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, Joseph. 2014. “Who Governs? Autonomous Political Networks as a Challenge to Power in Thailand.” Journal of Contemporary Asia. 45 (1): 3–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, Joseph. 2015. ““Developmental Capture” of the State: Explaining Thailand's Universal Coverage Policy.” Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 40 (1): 165–193.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harris, Joseph. 2017a. Achieving Access: Professional Movements and the Politics of Health Universalism. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Harris, Joseph. 2017b. “‘Professional Movements’ and the Expansion of Access to Healthcare in the Industrializing World.” Sociology of Development 3 (3): 252–272.10.1525/sod.2017.3.3.252CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hewison, Kevin. 1989. Bankers and Bureaucrats: Capital and the Role of the State in Thailand. Yale University Southeast Asian Monographs, No. 34. New Haven: Yale Center for International and Area Studies.Google Scholar
Hicken, Allen. 2005. “Thailand: Combating Corruption Through Electoral Reform.” In Electoral System Design: The New International IDEA Handbook, edited by Reynolds, Andrew, Reilly, Ben, and Ellis, Andrew, 105–107. Stockholm: International IDEA.Google Scholar
Hicken, Allen. 2006. “Party Fabrication: Constitutional Reform and the Rise of Thai Rak Thai.” Journal of East Asian Studies 6 (3): 381–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hicken, Allen. 2007. “How Do Rules and Institutions Encourage Vote Buying?” In Elections for Sale: The Causes and Consequences of Vote Buying, edited by Charles Schaffer, Frederic, 47–60. Boulder, CO: Lynne Reinner.Google Scholar
Hicken, Allen. 2009. Building Party Systems in Developing Democracies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511575563CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keck, Margaret. 1992. The Workers’ Party and Democratization in Brazil. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Kongkirati, Prajak. 2014. “The Rise and Fall of Electoral Violence in Thailand: Changing Rules, Structures and Power Landscapes, 1997–2011.” Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs 36 (3): 386–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larson, Magali. 1977. The Rise of Professionalism: A Sociological Analysis. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAdam, Douglas. 1982. Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
McCargo, Duncan, ed. 2002. Reforming Thai Politics. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies.Google Scholar
McCargo, Duncan. 2003. “Balancing the Checks: Thailand's Paralyzed Politics Post-1997.” Journal of East Asian Studies 3 (1): 129–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCargo, Duncan. 2005. “Network Monarchy and Legitimacy Crises in Thailand.” The Pacific Review 18 (4): 499–519.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCarthy, John, and Zald, Mayer. 1977. “Resource Mobilization and Social Movements: A Partial Theory.” American Journal of Sociology 82 (6): 1212–1241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Na Songkhla, Mongkol. 2009. Former Permanent Secretary and Minister of Public Health. Interview by Joseph Harris, May 12.Google Scholar
Nam, Illan. 2015. Democratizing Health Care: Welfare State Building in Korea and Thailand. New York: Palgrave.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nitayarampong, Sanguan. 2005. Bon sentarng soo lakbragan sukhapap tuannar [On the Path to Universal Health Insurance]. Bangkok: Matichon Publishing.Google Scholar
Ockey, James. 2003. “Change and Continuity in the Thai Political Party System.” Asian Survey 43 (4): 663–680.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ockey, James. 2005. “Variations on a Theme: Societal Cleavages and Party Orientations Through Multiple Transitions in Thailand.” Party Politics 11 (6): 728–747.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierson, Paul. 1993. “When Effect Becomes Cause: Policy Feedback and Political Change.” World Politics 45 (4): 595–628.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riggs, Fred. 1966. Thailand: The Modernization of a Bureaucratic Polity. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press.10.1515/9780824885458CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selway, Joel Sawat. 2011. “Electoral Reform and Public Policy Outcomes in Thailand: The Politics of the 30-Baht Health Scheme.” World Politics 63 (1):165–202.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Selway, Joel Sawat. 2015. Coalitions of the Wellbeing: How Electoral Rules and Ethnic Politics Shape Health Policy in Developing Countries. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skinner, Gorge. W. 1957. Chinese Society in Thailand: An Analytical History. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Starr, Paul. 1982. Social Transformation of American Medicine. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Wasi, Prawase. 2002. “An Overview of Political Reform Issues.” In Reforming Thai Politics, ed. McCargo, Duncan, 21–28. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies.Google Scholar