Does federalism matter for biopolicies? switzerland in comparative perspective

Abstract

This article analyses how federalism matters for the policy-designing process and the resulting policies in the field of Assisted Reproductive Technology through the comparison of four countries, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and Canada. It reconstructs from an actor-centred perspective how federalism interacts with other country and policy-field specific characteristics and empirically assesses how this interaction influenced the final policies. By focusing on Assisted Reproductive Technology, the article examines the potential influence of federalism on public policies beyond the standard discussion of the comparative political economy of federalism. © 2003 The Swiss Political Science Review.