martin powell makes the point that the death of the national health service (nhs) is constantly asserted without criteria. this article suggests that the nhs is many things, which makes criteria unstable. the alignment of interests in the structure of the nhs enables both overheated rhetoric and political strength, and that pluralization of provision might actually undermine that alignment over...

Article history: Received 20 February 2013 Received in revised form 5 August 2013 Accepted 16 September 2013 Available online 21 September 2013 This manuscript was handled by Andras Bardossy, Editor-in-Chief, with the assistance of Purna Chandra Nayak, Associate Editor

Comments Welcome 1 We are grateful to David Laitin, who collaborated with Kanchan Chandra on early versions of this chapter and has contributed to many of the insights here; to