Joseph Harris

Explores the development and growth of Thailand’s unique approach to global health diplomacy at the WHO, based on nearly 70 interviews with officials from the government, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and academics. 

Explores the changing landscape of the health sector in Brazil and Thailand before Universal Health Coverage (UHC) reform and after. Highlights how differing private-sector trajectories can push countries with similar UHC goals in different directions and offers lessons for policymakers seeking to achieve and maintain robust UHC programmes in other contexts.

Examines the politics of policy adoption in countries that have recently aimed to provide healthcare access and financial protection to the poor and people in the informal sector in Mexico and Turkey. Finds democratic competition to play an important role in causing political parties to take up new agendas.

Examines why some newly democratized, resource-constrained countries commit to ambitious policies like universal health coverage and expanded AIDS treatment, even as wealthier nations struggle to do so. Compares Thailand, Brazil, and South Africa to demonstrate how democratization can empower elite professionals to push for transformative health reforms, with varying success across countries.

Argues that existing explanations are insufficient for explaining Thailand's universal health care policy, pointing to the critical role played by a network of bureaucrats within the state who strategically mobilized resources in the bureaucracy, political parties, civil society, and international organizations to institutionalize universal health care in the face of broader professional dissent, political uncertainty, and international pressure.