Capacity and authority: comments on governing doctors and health care

This stimulating set of articles provides intriguing information and comments about medical governance in four countries. The commentary argues that the typology of governance approaches is not as useful as one would want for understanding either the political prospects or policy effects of governance measures. The politics of governance measures is distinctly related to efforts to avoid blame, and the effects of measures are better understood in terms of state capacity and a term, ‘authority’, that advocates of ‘governance’ usually avoid. Close attention to the requisites of authority provides some insight into the patterns of adoption and consequences of measures. These patterns are highlighted by comparing the four cases reviewed to experience in the United States.