Conceptual Definition of the Content of the Concept of “Public Health” as a Subject of State Policy in Modern Political Science
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31861/mhpi2025.51.222-232Keywords:
political science, conceptualization, theory, public health, politics, security, subject of politics, political actorAbstract
The article examines the process of conceptualizing the definition of the content of the concept of public health as a subject of state policy, formed in modern political science. It is proven that political science justifies the possibility of implementing state public health policy both on the principles of libertarianism and on the principles of paternalism, which offer their own models of explaining the nature, limits and legitimacy of the actions of politicians and the functions of political institutions regarding the restriction of freedom and responsibility of individuals and groups in pursuing their own interests. It is substantiated that the tendency to create mutually exclusive alternative models of public health (libertarian or paternalistic) is a wrong path in finding a balance between human interests and the interests of the state. It is established that an important part of the conceptualization of the concept of public health in modern political science is the problematization of the institutional and functional capacity of the public health system. The content of the concept of public health capacity is defined as a set of sustainable policies, organizational structures and resources of the public health system, capable of reproducing its proper level in the conditions of a nation-state or association of states implementing a common policy in this area. In the process of determining the research potential of the security dimension of the concept of public health, it was found that the understanding of politics as a process of competition for the content and dimensions of security, that is, public health can be a subject of policy, but not belong to the security field, is common to most critical security studies. The development of a theoretical understanding of the (non)security potential of public health is associated with the conceptualization of the concepts of securitization, collective securitization, securitization agents, and recursive interaction. The success and results of collective securitization depend on the density of institutionalization of the security space, in which rules and norms form an understanding of the content of threats in relation to which supranational actors play a major role.
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