Many professions today are in a state of transition, with changes being imposed on them by governments and other agencies. Focusing on this theme of change Health Professions and the State in Europe explains and illuminates the specific relationship between health professions and the state. The editors and contributors, all experts in the field, present an overview of the current situation in eight different countries in Europe, covering such topical issues as the impact on the health professions of market policies, performance and quality measures, and challenges to professional monopolies and expertise. With its international and comparative perspective, the book enhances our understanding of the interplay between health professions and the state in different national contexts.

Contributors Introduction Part I: Professions and the State: Theoretical Issues 1. Governmentality and the Institutionalization of Expertise 2. Countervailing Powers: A Framework for Professions in Transition Part II: Health Professions and the State in Britain 3. Historical Perspectives 4. Restructuring Health and Welfare Professions in the UK 5. Shifting Spheres of Opportunity 6. Doctors, Peer Review and Quality Assurance 7. The Changing Response of the Medical Profession to Alternative Medicine in Britain 8. The British General Medical Council Health Professions and the State in Continental Europe 9. The Politics of the Spanish Medical Profession 10. The Belgian Medical Profession since the 1980s 11. Midwifery in the Netherlands 12. State Traditions and Medical Professionalization in Scandinavia 13. Medical Uncertainty and Gender-Based Work in the Medical Profession in the Nordic Countries