Fogarty, Sheila
(1995)
Convergence or Consequentialism: A study of health policy towards drug users in two countries.
Masters thesis, Pontifical University, St Patrick's College, Maynooth.
Abstract
This study centres on the changes which have taken place in the area of health policy towards
intravenous drug users over the past two decades; the relationship between competing
perspectives in policy and the impact of AIDS on that policy. To illustrate this, policy
perspectives in two countries towards the provision of needle exchanges will be examined to
provide a concrete example of how different countries have dealt with the issue of drug use:
normalisation versus deterrence.
It is my intention to attempt to account for these policy choices by first examining what role
politics played in the providing the ideological perspective from which policies were launched,
whether or not there has been convergence in policy due to internal or external forces and finally,
to examine whether AIDS precipitated a consequentialist response which was unrelated to either
of the previously mentioned factors.
The two countries I have chosen are Ireland and the Netherlands. This is primarily due to the fact
that historically they have been confessionally based welfare states with similar perspectives in the
area of social policy. Bom out of the Catholic social doctrine, the principle of 'subsidiarity1 had
been adopted in both countries; however, although policy in both countries has been launched
from a broadly similar ideological platform there have been marked differences in the approaches
taken in the area of health policy towards I V. drug users, particularly with regard to the provision
of needle exchanges and the participation of ex addicts in the policy process.
| Item Type: |
Thesis
(Masters)
|
| Keywords: |
Convergence; Consequentialism; health policy; drug users; |
| Academic Unit: |
St Patrick's College, Maynooth > Faculty of Theology |
| Item ID: |
5303 |
| Depositing User: |
IR eTheses
|
| Date Deposited: |
08 Aug 2014 14:09 |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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