<span lang="EN">Administrative Medicoacy and Policy Capture: A Comparative Study of Iran with Developed and Developing Countries

Purpose: The disproportionate presence of medical graduates in Iran's managerial and policy-making positions is a long-standing phenomenon that has rarely been framed as an organizational and governance problem. This study seeks to conceptualize and critically explain the phenomenon of "administrative medicoacy" and to identify the mechanisms through which it is reproduced and leads to policy capture.Methodology: The study is qualitative and explanatory-critical, conducted in two stages: a thematic analysis of legal documents, oversight reports, and scholarly literature using the thematic network approach; and a most-different comparative study setting Iran against developed countries (Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland) and developing countries (Colombia, Peru, Mexico, China). The validity of the findings was secured through source triangulation and peer review.Findings: The analysis yielded six reproducing mechanisms that form the links of a self-reinforcing chain: educational closure, vertical integration of governance and provider roles, spillover of professional prestige, formalistic hybrid professionalism, policy capture, and outward diffusion into non-health domains. The professional representation ratio indicated that physicians' share of Iran's legislative body is tens of times their demographic weight. The comparative analysis made clear that what distinguishes the Iranian case is not the presence of physicians in management, but rather the absence of an institutional counterweight alongside the vertical integration of roles.Conclusion: Administrative medicoacy is a form of policy capture that operates through the legitimate channel of professional prestige and is therefore harder to restrain than overt corruption. Managerial credentials alone are not a remedy and, absent structural reform, serve a legitimating function. The study recommends separating governance roles from provider roles, establishing a job-based merit system, and managing conflicts of interest.

کلیدواژه ها:

Administrative medicoacy ، Professional dominance ، Policy capture ، Conflict of interest ، meritocracy