Improving the government of the Libyan health sector : can lessons on decentralisation and accountability be drawn from health care delivery in the UAE?

• Main Author: Ben Ismail, Ayad Tahar A
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: University of Exeter 2014
• Subjects: Developing Countries; Policy Transfer; Public Administration; Public Health Policy

The study of policy transfer has seen remarkable developments and received considerable attention in developed countries, but it has so far been ignored in the context of Libya. Thus, this research will fill a gap in the literature and further understanding of the topic of policy transfer, not only in relation to Libya but developing countries in general. This thesis aims at providing a comprehensive and systematic picture of the public health care system in Libya and, at the same time, to learn lessons from the UAE which can be transferred to the Libyan context in order to achieve a more effective health service. At the theoretical level, this research depended on the assumption that lessons can be drawn from the UAE to help build the public health system in Libya. This was achieved through the application of the framework of policy transfer. In order to build a more complete picture in relation to the success or failure of the transfer, the path dependency approach was used to explain the importance of old trajectories or how past legacy can lead to “lock-in" or decrease the ability of the lesson-drawing. Empirically it examined the public health sector in Libya as its main case study, comparing it with the UAE. Qualitative data collection methods were used, including personal interviews and official documents. With this in mind, the research aims to understand the public health care systems in the two countries and, through comparative analysis, make suggestions as to what lessons can be learned. The findings reveal that many lessons can learned from the practices of the UAE public health policy. Such experiences would help to remove the problems in public health services in Libya as well as to facilitate improvement of policies and plans. However, there are two factors, namely the legacy of the past regime and state capacity, which may hinder the success of the transfer. Furthermore, political will held by policy makers, including a desire for modernization of the public sector, could facilitate the transfer of the suggested lessons.