Conclusion: The Added Value of Political Science in, of, and with Public Health

Abstract

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has brought into never-before-seen sharp focus the challenges at the interface between health and public policy. To address these challenges, epistemic trespassing is required and, more precisely, engagement between public health and political science. This book highlights the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of public health political science, explores the empirical contributions, and calls for deeper engagement between public health and political science. Not surprisingly, challenges remain: the need to unite, both spatially and conceptually, the global network of colleagues at this interface and expand it to include perspectives from the Global South and from places where democratic institutions are truncated if not completely absent; the need to promote more cross-disciplinary teaching, training, and research in public health and political science; and engagement with the full range of political science sub-disciplines beyond those highlighted in this volume. Finally, there is a need to leave the ivory towers of academe (whether political science or public health) and more proactively engage with policymaking efforts if we are to not simply make a point but make a difference.