Configurations as a powerful analytical tool for examining global health interventions

Abstract In recent years, the evaluation of global health interventions has seen the concept of ‘configuration’ re-emerging through an approach rooted in critical realism. However, thanks to the work of Norbert Elias, this concept is longstanding and has been widely utilized in sociology. This methodological and reflective text aims to demonstrate how this concept is beneficial for examining global health interventions. After analyzing how the configuration is approached in health sociology, organizational sociology, and realist evaluation, we show its heuristic contribution through three empirical examples in global health. The text highlights the diverse uses and challenges of the configurational approach in the ongoing debate on generalization and causality in evaluating interventions.