Good policy but maladroit politics produces bad public health [Peer review]

Me on the politics of public health and health reform, in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review.

Sustainable public health policy requires more than the passive support of a political majority.  One must design policies to nurture the loyalties and investments of specific interest groups and constituencies who have reason to defend these new policies. Political durability is no guarantee of policy success.  Yet good policy that rests on poor political foundations rarely remains good policy for very long....