Privatisierungen und Sozialabbau als Teil Globaler Sozialpolitik? Zur Rolle Internationaler Organisationen in der Gesundheitspolitik El Salvadors

Abstract

Abstract

Privatization and social cuts as part of Global Social Policy? The role of international organizations in El Salvador´s Health Policy. This article analyses the role of international organizations in the formation of national social policy by questioning their concrete interventions in El Salvador’s healthcare policy. As El Salvador is an exclusive welfare state where traditional elites have governed for a long time, one might assume that the efforts of International Organizations have had a positive effect. In contrast to this assumption, this article argues that International Organizations have been decisively involved in the history of the country and have helped stabilize a regime that for decades gave no priority to social policy and social reforms. As in many Latin American countries, the World Bank, the Interamerican Development Bank, the World Health Organization and bilateral development agencies have pushed forward neoliberal health reforms. A strong local social movement stopped the privatization of healthcare and started a discussion about „good“ healthcare policies.