Public health and political science: challenges and opportunities for collaboration

Abstract

We hope to advance productive collaborations between public health and political Science by highlighting key barriers to effective collaboration between these fields and investigating opportunities to overcome them. We synthesize conceptual insights drawn from (1) a recent international workshop that brought together researchers at the intersection of public health and political science and (2) the emerging literature on ‘public health political science. Although public health and political science would appear to be natural partners, work typically occurs in parallel rather than in partnership, resulting in missed opportunities for productive collaboration. We identify three key challenges to an effective  partnership between political science and public health. These include the need for a common language and shared understanding of key concepts; mutual recognition of the complexity and diversity within each field; and a deeper engagement with their conceptual and methodological complementarities and differences. We also identify the area of evidence-informed policymaking as particularly ripe for productive collaboration between
public health and political science.