European public health was a playing field for
deeply contradictory impulses throughout the twentieth
century. In the 1920s, international agencies were
established with great fanfare and postwar optimism to
serve as the watchtower of health the world over. Within
less than a decade, local-level institutions began to
emerge as seats of innovation, initiative, and
expertise. But there was continual counterpressure from
nation-states that jealously guarded their policymaking
prerogatives in the face of the push for cross-national
standardization and the emergence of original
initiatives from below. In contrast to histories of
twentieth-century public health that focus exclusively
on the local, national, or international levels,
Shifting Boundaries explores the connections or "zones
of contact" between the three levels. The interpretive
essays, written by distinguished historians of public
health and medicine, focus on four topics: the
oscillation between governmental and nongovernmental
agencies as sites of responsibility for addressing
public health problems; the harmonization of
nation-states' agendas with those of international
agencies; the development by public health experts of
knowledge that is both placeless and respectful of
place; and the transportability of model solutions
across borders. The volume breaks new ground in its
treatment of public health as a political endeavor by
highlighting strategies to prevent or alleviate disease
as a matter not simply of medical techniques but
political values and commitments. Contributors: Peter
Baldwin, Iris Borowy, James A. Gillespie, Graham Mooney,
Lion Murard, Dorothy Porter, Sabine Schleiermacher,
Susan Gross Solomon, Paul Weindling, and Patrick
Zylberman. Susan Gross Solomon is Professor of Political
Science at the University of Toronto. Lion Murard is a
senior researcher at CERMES (Centre de Recherche
Médecine, Sciences, Santé et Société),
CNRS-EHESS-INSERM, Paris. Patrick Zylberman is Chaired
Professor of the History of Health at the EHESP French
School of Public Health Rennes, Sorbonne Paris
Cité.
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