Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Governing for the Common Good

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Health Care Analysis Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The proper object of global health governance (GHG) should be the common good, ensuring that all people have the opportunity to flourish. A well-organized global society that promotes the common good is to everyone’s advantage. Enabling people to flourish includes enabling their ability to be healthy. Thus, we must assess health governance by its effectiveness in enhancing health capabilities. Current GHG fails to support human flourishing, diminishes health capabilities and thus does not serve the common good. The provincial globalism theory of health governance proposes a Global Health Constitution and an accompanying Global Institute of Health and Medicine that together propose to transform health governance. Multiple lines of empirical research suggest that these institutions would be effective, offering the most promising path to a healthier, more just world.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Amos, E. A., & Weathington, B. L. (2008). An analysis of the relation between employee-organization value congruence and employee attitudes. The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, 142(6), 615–631.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Brosnan, S. F., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2014). Evolution of responses to (un)fairness. Science, 346(6207), 314–321.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Coggon, J. (2014). Global health, law, and ethics: Fragmented sovereignty and the limits of universal theory. In M. Freeman, S. Hawkes, & B. Bennett (Eds.), Law and global health: Current legal issues (pp. 369–385). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1980). The empirical exploration of intrinsic motivational processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 13, 39–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Dugatkin, L. A. (1997). Cooperation among animals: An evolutionary perspective. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Fehr, E., & Schmidt, K. M. (1999). A theory of fairness, competition, and cooperation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114, 817–867.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Fidler, D. P. (2004). Constitutional outlines of public health’s “new world order”. Temple Law Review, 77, 247–289.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Gostin, L. O. (2014). Global health law. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  9. Henrich, J., et al. (Eds.). (2004). Foundations of human sociality: Economic experiments and ethnographic evidence from fifteen small scale societies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Kappeler, P. M., & van Schaik, C. P. (2006). Cooperation in primates and humans: Mechanisms and evolution. Berlin: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  11. Kramer, R. M., & Tyler, T. R. (1996). Trust in organizations: Frontiers of theory and research. California: Sage Publications Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Rawls, J. (1971). A theory of justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Rousseau, J. (1968). The social contract (trans: Cranston, M.). London: Penguin Books.

  14. Ruger, J. P. (2006). Ethics and governance of global health inequalities. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 60, 998–1002.

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Ruger, J. P. (2006). Millennium development goals for health: Building Human capabilities. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 82(12), 951–952.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Ruger, J. P. (2009). Global health justice. Public Health Ethics, 2(3), 261–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Ruger, J. P. (2012). Global Health governance as shared health governance. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 66(7), 653–661.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Ruger, J. P. (2013). A global health constitution for global health governance. American Society of International Law Proceedings, 107, 267–270.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Semmann, D., et al. (2004). Strategic investment in reputation. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 56, 248–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Sen, A. (1993). Positional objectivity. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 22(2), 126–145.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Skogan, W., & Frydl, K. (Eds.). (2004). Fairness and effectiveness in policing: The evidence (p. 297). Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Tomasello, M., et al. (2012). Two Key steps in the evolution of human cooperation: The interdependence hypothesis. Current Anthropology, 53(6), 673–692.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Tyler, T. R. (2010). Why people cooperate: The role of social motivations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  24. Yamagishi, T., et al. (2009). The private rejection of unfair offers and emotional commitment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(28), 11520–11523.

Download references

Acknowledgments

I thank the Patrick and Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation and the Greenwall Foundation for funding.

Conflict of interest

None.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jennifer Prah Ruger.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ruger, J.P. Governing for the Common Good. Health Care Anal 23, 341–351 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10728-015-0294-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10728-015-0294-y

Keywords

Navigation