The Europeanization of Health System Performance. The EUROCARE Study and Cancer Control in England

Abstract : The EUROCARE study is a joint effort by European cancer epidemiologists to measure cancer survival rates in a large sample of European countries. Its publication over a decade ago brought some salience to the poor performance of Britain within the European Union. The subsequent national cancer control programme initiated in England resulted partly of that event, which suggests that, along with the transformative effects of EU-level policy-making, Europeanization also occurs through the indirect activity of epistemic communities. I provide an analytical framework that draws on the sociology of quantification and on the politics of measurement and performance to show how cancer control and health policy can undergo significant reforms due to discrete and asynchronous acts of EU government.