Health Politics invites contributions to National Health Politics — a growing collection of analytically grounded portraits of health politics in a specific country or region, each written by a scholar with deep expertise in that setting. Together the essays map how political actors, institutions, and power relations shape health systems and health equity across the world, building a cumulative reference for the field.
Health Politics is an international, peer-reviewed, Diamond Open Access journal that brings political science, political sociology, and political economy to bear on the forces — power, institutions, actors, and process — that shape health and health systems, rather than on health outcomes alone.
The analytical framework
To keep the essays comparable across countries while preserving each author's voice, every essay addresses four dimensions:
• Political landscape. The key political actors, institutions, ideological cleavages, and partisan dynamics that shape health policy in the country.
• Power dynamics. How power is distributed and contested in health-policy agenda-setting and decision-making — including the roles of the state, capital, professions, and civil society.
• Contemporary contestation. One or two current issues where health politics is most actively contested — for example privatization, austerity, universal coverage, or the commercial determinants of health.
• Analytic gaps. Research questions that remain underexplored in the existing literature on health politics in that country or region.
The framework is a guide for comparability, not a rigid template: authors retain full discretion over analytical emphasis and structure.
Format
Contributions are welcome in either of two formats, at the author's choice:
Policy & Practice articles — field-grounded, case-based analyses connecting political analysis with governance and practice — of 3,000–4,000 words; or
Full-length articles of up to 10,000 words, for contributions requiring more extended empirical or theoretical development.
Both formats carry a structured abstract of up to 300 words and follow APA 7th style. Word counts exclude the abstract, references, tables, and figures.
Timeline
National Health Politics is a continuous, rolling call: proposals and manuscripts are welcome at any time, and accepted essays are grouped so that each issue can be read comparatively.
How to propose or submit
Write to journal@hpolitics.org with a one-paragraph proposal (the country and the contestation you would foreground), or submit a full essay via submit.hpolitics.org, indicating "National Health Politics" in your cover letter. Unsolicited submissions undergo peer review.
Carles Muntaner & Haejoo Chung Editors-in-Chief, Health Politics
Rolling submissions — proposals welcome at any time · Policy & Practice 3,000–4,000 words or full-length up to 10,000 words · submit.hpolitics.org
