French Politics Revisited: The Case of Mental Health Policy

• In Event: Behavioral Health Politics: Mental Health and Substance Use Policies

Abstract

Many studies of "health politics" apply the tools of political science to improve the study of health. But the inverse is also possible. Studying health can improve the study of politics. This paper examines the development of French mental health policy since the 1950s to investigate core assumptions about the nature of Gallic politics and policy. In doing so, it calls into question presumed patterns of policy-making. The paper also explores whether these deviations result from unique features of mental health policy, or if they could justify some revisions to the French political literature.

Author

• Isabel Maria Perera, Cornell