: Lessons from a public health case

International audienceThe article presents the methodological approach to a comparative case study in a regional group of countries, comparing a set of public health policies in four European welfare states. The policy problem, fighting the AIDS epidemic, is extremely complex and fast moving. It involves many policy areas as well as important private life dimensions and introduces changes in national as well as sectoral policy making. The results show four distinct policy patterns, but bring together Britain and Germany on the one hand and Italy and France on the other, although France follows a unique path with extensive policy learning and major institutional reforms. They suggest hypotheses on how culture acts in the formation of public policies. The analysis binds together internal case commonalities and the comparative logic