Rudolph Klein is visting professor at LSE. In his work over the past 30 years Rudolf Klein has given a new dimension to the study of policy in the National Health Service. He has examined the institutional dynamics of policy making and his work entitled The Politics of the NHS, is probably the best-known example. Studies of UK policy developments have appeared in journals ranging from the BMJ and the NEJM to Political Studies and The Milbank Quarterly. Klein has also been a pioneer in studying institutional innovation and new policy tools: for example his studies of the Commission for Health Improvement and of regulation. By placing the NHS in the context of his wider studies of social policy, as well as by adopting a comparative approach across countries and across services, Klein has illuminated what is special (or otherwise) about health care in the UK. Accountabilities, a comparison of five different public services in the UK is an example of this approach. Much of Rudolph Klein’s work has been devoted to exploring the context within which policy makers work - the historical legacy, the ideas in good currency, the structure of interests. At the same time, he has sought to demystify the vocabulary of policy debate: and has brought rigour to the discussion of such concepts as equity, democracy and accountability, drawing on political science and theory among other social science disciplines. In summary, Klein - writing with clarity and wit - has made a distinguished and original intellectual contribution to the study of health care precisely because he has put it in a wider context and brought a variety of perspectives to bear.