0
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: not found

      Corporate coalitions and policy making in the European Union: how and why British American Tobacco promoted "Better Regulation".

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Over the past fifteen years, an interconnected set of regulatory reforms, known as Better Regulation, has been adopted across Europe, marking a significant shift in the way that European Union policies are developed. There has been little exploration of the origins of these reforms, which include mandatory ex ante impact assessment. Drawing on documentary and interview data, this article discusses how and why large corporations, notably British American Tobacco (BAT), worked to influence and promote these reforms. Our analysis highlights (1) how policy entrepreneurs with sufficient resources (such as large corporations) can shape the membership and direction of advocacy coalitions; (2) the extent to which "think tanks" may be prepared to lobby on behalf of commercial clients; and (3) why regulated industries (including tobacco) may favor the use of "evidence tools," such as impact assessments, in policy making. We argue that a key aspect of BAT's ability to shape regulatory reform involved the deliberate construction of a vaguely defined idea that could be strategically adapted to appeal to diverse constituencies. We discuss the theoretical implications of this finding for the Advocacy Coalition Framework, as well as the practical implications of the findings for efforts to promote transparency and public health in the European Union.

          Related collections

          Author and article information

          Journal
          J Health Polit Policy Law
          Journal of health politics, policy and law
          Duke University Press
          1527-1927
          0361-6878
          Apr 2015
          : 40
          : 2
          Affiliations
          [1 ] University of Edinburgh.
          [2 ] Aston University.
          [3 ] University of Bath.
          Article
          03616878-2882231 NIHMS734021
          10.1215/03616878-2882231
          4668595
          25646389
          53b1e415-4f90-4ad1-83a2-36404c7d91fe
          History

          think tanks,European Union,ideational theory,public health policy,regulatory reform

          Comments

          Comment on this article