History and Policy

A Typology of Approaches and Its Uses

Ellen van Reuler

The University of Manchester

Centre for the History of Science, Technology & Medicine

vanreuler@alumni.manchester.ac.uk

QRPM2011, Belfast, 27 May 2011

Introduction

- History and policy: What is being done?

-The relevance of history for policy

1

Historian on History and Policy

‘Policy is always history. Events in the past define thepossible and the desirable, set tasks, and define rewards,viable choices, and thus the range of possible outcomes.As we move through time those choices reconfigurethemselves and trends may establish themselves - but atany given point the ‘actionable’ options are highlystructured. It is the historian’s disciplinary task to definethose likelihoods. Most important, what history can andshould contribute to the world of policy and politics is itsfundamental sense of context and complexity, of thedetermined and the negotiated.’

Charles Rosenberg in History & Health Policy in the United States.Putting the Past Back in (2006, p.28).

2

CMO on History and Policy

‘I never ever heard a discussion during my twelve years inpost, although I tried many times to raise it, where peoplewould sit down and say ‘now, have we ever done anythinglike this before? What tools did we use? What worked well?What didn’t work well and how are we going to take thatlearning into the change programme that we are now going tointroduce?’ People reached for the tools almost absent-mindedly. Say, we’ve got to have a few regional road shows,we’ve got to do some legislation, we’ve got to do this, we’vegot to do that, but not thinking fundamentally about changethe way that I believe is done in many of the most innovativeorganisations in other sectors.’

Liam Donaldson during presentation ‘Leadership in the NHS: Reflections of a Chief Medical Officer’ (King’s Fund, 2011, 37:43 – 38:30).

3

Introduction

- The relevance of history for policy

- Agenda for this talk:1. Typology of history for policy

2. Translating history to policy

3. A note on presentation

4. Examples

4

Concept of history

Ori

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tati

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of

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stu

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Mode 1

Past MethodP

rob

lem

Un

ders

tan

din

g

Mode 2

Mode 4 Mode 3

Mu

ltip

ly a

nd

co

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xtu

alise

Temporalise

1 Typology

5

2 Translational devicesConcept of history

Fo

cu

s o

f th

e s

tud

y

Past Method

Pro

ble

mU

nd

ers

tan

din

g

Policy Issue

Mode 2Mode 1

Mode 3 Mode 4

D

A

C

B

6

3 A note on presentation

- Format

- Use of policy models

7

4 Examples (I)

- Methods

- Regional organisation of oncological care in the Netherlands• Dutch health care system

• Mode 1

• Mode 2

• Mode 3

• Mode 4

• Translation8

4 Examples (II)

- The benefits of comparison

- Voluntary palliative care in England and

the Netherlands (in paper)• Mode 2 histories

• Policy insights

9

Conclusion

- Summary

- Concluding remarks

Thank you for your attention!

10

10

Presented at the 2nd European

conference on Qualitative Research for

Policy Making, 26 -27 May 2011, Belfast

For more information

Please visit: http://www.merlien.org