Politics and television

Texts reviewed:

Jay Blumler, Michael Gurevitch and Julian Ives (1978) The Challenge of Election Broadcasting, Leeds University Press.

Tom Burns (1977) The BBC: Public Institution and Private World, Macmillan Press.

Grace Wyndham Goldie (1977) Facing the Nation: Television and Politics 1936–76, Bodley Head.

Philip Schlesinger (1978) Putting ‘reality’ together: BBC News, Constable.

Michael Tracey (1977) Producing Political Television, Routledge Direct Edition.     

The springtime of French intelligence

Dominique Prieur (avec Jean‐Marie Pontaut), Agent secrète (Paris: Fayard 1995). Pp.248. Ff110. ISBN 2–213–59277–2.

Paul Paillote (entretiens avec Alain‐Gilles Minella), L'homme des services secrets (Paris: Julliard 1995). Pp.323. Ff129. ISBN 2–260–01341–4.

Claude Silberzahn (avec Jean Guisnel), Au coeur du secret, 1.500 jours aux commandes de la DGSE. 1989–1993 (Paris: Fayard 1995). Pp.330. Ff120. ISBN 22–13–59311–6.     

Rating and Evaluating Health Systems: The Value of the Life Expectancy Approach

ABSTRACT

Cross-national ranking and rating of public services does not always provide the conditions for effective cross-national learning, because such learning requires causal understanding of the mechanisms underlying ranking scores. That causal understanding means grappling with the production functions involved in public services, and it is particularly difficult for organizations or policy domains where processes are more readily measurable than outcomes relative to goals. Health is to a large extent a policy domain of that type, which makes effective ranking and comparison difficult and also presents a particular challenge for cross-national learning. Numerous attempts have been made to compare the efficiency of different health care systems, and though there is a certain logic about such approaches to ranking and rating, this paper argues that much can be learnt for health policy using life expectancy as the basis for ranking and comparison.