Introduction

Could policy theories help to understand and facilitate the pursuit of equity? Our ongoing series of qualitative systematic reviews of equity research – beginning with health, education, and gender – highlight that potential. In these fields, we find that equity scholars combine advocacy and academic research, seeking lessons on how to secure transformational changes to domestic and global policy and policy making. While there is no single definition of equity, or vision of transformative change, Cairney et al (2022a) identify two common elements in these (and other) fields. First, policy change would involve rejecting a ‘neoliberal’ paradigm that prioritises economic growth and emphasises low state intervention, market forces, and individual responsibility. In its place would be a ‘social justice’ paradigm that prioritises equity and emphasises state responsibility to address the unequal distribution of resources that cause unfair inequalities. Second, transformative policy making change would involve collaborative and participatory forms of governance and intersectoral action.

In that context, how could policy theories help equity scholars who seek transformations to policy and policy processes? One option is to address their disenchantment with limited progress, since our reviews find that they describe an unusually wide gap between their aspirations and actual outcomes. Many studies suggest that they possess more knowledge about what they need to do (or need from political systems) than the power or means to achieve it. For example, they need more effective intersectoral action because key causes of change are out of the control of a single sector, but express limited progress on such collaboration.