Social networks and health governance

Abstract

This paper addresses the health challenges of contemporary societies, where stakeholders with diverse, and sometimes antagonistic interests, are faced with the establishment of a public agenda for the health care of the population. In this field, the modern welfare state plays an important role, not only as an implementing agent of the public agenda but also as a guarantor in the provision of services. In this essay, we will explore the concept of governance, which seeks to analyze the new governance practices in late modernity, incorporating the complicated relationship among stakeholders, in a scheme where ingredients such as popular participation and social control of public affairs are put to the fore. The theme of networks is introduced as an instrument for understanding the phenomenon of governance. The concept of health governance is constructed to explain the phenomena of new organizational schemes of public management, especially from the fact that new actors enter the stage. It is no longer possible to have a close picture of reality by using traditional organizational analysis models. It is essential to incorporate other theoretical-methodological instruments, and we believe that the analysis of social networks is an essential tool for understanding this complex reality.