Constitutional and Distributional Conflict in British Medical Politics: the Case of General Practice, 1911-1991.

This paper explores the theoretical confusion in explanations of health policies. It does so by distinguishing between the politics of constitutional conflict and the politics of distributional conflict, and analysing their development over time. The first type is epitomized by the collisions between the state and the medical profession in 1911, 1945 and 1989 on the issue of general practice. The second is characterized by a corporatiststyle, institutionalized relationship between the state and the profession between and subsequent to these events. Conclusions are drawn about the limitations of corporatist and other theories and about the methodology of policy analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]