Political Analysis for Health Policy Implementation

Any effort to improve health system performance must address the challenges of policy implementation. This article examines one aspect of implementation-the politics of policy implementation for the health sector, particularly the management of stakeholders in order to help change teams improve the chances of achieving policy objectives. Based on a literature scan of political analyses and descriptions of health policy implementation in low- and middle-income countries, we propose six major categories of stakeholder groups that are likely to influence implementation: interest group politics, bureaucratic politics, budget politics, leadership politics, beneficiary politics, and external actor politics. The categories of stakeholders can be overlapping. We examine the politics of these different stakeholder categories, and then present selected examples of published case studies that show the types of implementation challenges that arise for each category and how implementers can use political strategies to manage specific stakeholder groups and related political processes. Understanding the political dimensions of implementation can help those responsible for implementation drive policy into practice more effectively. Understanding and addressing conflict, resistance and cooperation among stakeholders are key to managing the implementation process. Systematic and continuous political analysis can help decision makers and change teams improve the chances for successful implementation.