Europe has pursued a progressive agenda of tobacco control, driven by the UK, Ireland and other states in Northern Europe

Restrictions placed on the use of tobacco products have increased across European countries over recent decades. Donley Studlar assesses the different approaches taken in different states, noting that the UK, Ireland and several Nordic countries have more restrictive approaches than other parts of Europe. He also writes that the relative success of public health campaigns against tobacco use may act as a model for future campaigns against other health dangers, such as alcohol and obesity

Obesity Prevention Policy : from Harm Regulation towards a Neo-Prohibitionist Regime?

There has been increasing attention paid to non-communicable disease risk factors including tobacco, diet, alcohol and a lack of physical activity. The tobacco control model has moved from largely supply side, ‘harm regulation’ measures of the 1950s and 1960s (e.g. ‘safe’ cigarettes, education, self-regulation) to demand side, neo-prohibitionism in the 1980s (e.g. mandatory restrictions) with the increased attention paid to second hand smoke issues. Obesity as well as alcohol remain in the ‘harm regulation’ model although there have been attempts to move toward a more demand side model. Despite the attractiveness of the tobacco control model for obesity policy change, progress has been slow. We analyse the prospects for moving obesity policy towards a neo-prohibitionist model

Punching above their weight through policy learning : tobacco control policies in Ireland

Ireland’s tobacco control policy today is recognised as one of the strongest in Europe and the world, largely on the basis of its first-in-the world general workplace smoking ban in 2004. However, it is insufficiently recognised that Ireland has persistently and deliberately developed tobacco control policies since the 1970s, a longer period than most countries. Using a five-fold analysis of factors influencing tobacco policy agendas, socioeconomic setting (including public opinion), networks, institutions, and ideas (including scientific information and diffusion), this paper explains policy development in Ireland over the long term. It demonstrates how a small country, not dependent on tobacco growing or a domestic tobacco industry but also having only a small research and bureaucratic capacity, has managed to create a strong tobacco control policy. Even though it is an EU member, Ireland has utilised diffusion of research and policy in the English-speaking world, especially paying close attention to the United States, to develop its position as a world policy leader in tobacco control

Multilevel governance, public health and the regulation of food: is tobacco control policy a model?

Campaigns against risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) caused by smoking and obesity have become increasingly common on multiple levels of government, from the local to the international. Non-governmental actors have cooperated with government bodies to make policies. By analysing the policies of the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, the European Union, and the United Kingdom and United States governments, we identify how the struggles between public health advocates and commercial interests reached the global level, and how the relatively successful fight to ‘denormalize’ tobacco consumption has become a model for anti-obesity advocates. It highlights three factors important in policy change: framing the policy problem, the policymaking environment and ‘windows of opportunity’—to analyse the struggle between ‘harm regulation’ and ‘neoprohibition’ approaches to an international obesity prevention regime

Toward the permissive society? Morality policy agendas and policy directions in Western democracies

Employing two theories of morality policy, Policy Types and the "Two Worlds" of religious/secular party systems, we describe and attempt to explain the empirical patterns for five morality policy issues (abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia,assisted reproductive technology/stem cell research, and same-sex marriage) across 24 Western democracies since World War II. What is the content of policy adoption? Are some countries consistently more permissive or restrictive on morality issues? How long do these issues stay on the political agenda? These issues have been on the agendas of all of the countries for varying time periods, with some being older in vintage (death penalty, abortion, euthanasia) than others (ART/stem cells and same-sex marriage). The general tendency has been toward greater permissiveness, but there still remains considerable policy diversity. While there has been substantial change on morality policies in Western democracies since World War II, the change is more thorough in some jurisdictions and in some regions more than others

The UK: A Case Study

First paragraph: Tobacco policy in the UK demonstrates a period of rapid legislative change following decades of policy continuity. Tobacco advertising was banned in the UK in 2002 and bans on smoking in public places in the UK and devolved territories were introduced from 2005-6. These measures, combined with others already in place, such as smoking cessation services and health education, make the UK the most active tobacco control member state in the EU. It now ranks number one in the Tobacco Control Scale discussed in Chapter 4. Yet, for most of the post-war period, tobacco policy was marked by a relative lack of regulation. Tobacco control measures were often voluntary rather than legislative, while public health arguments often came second-best to those based on individual choice and the economic benefits of tobacco (Cairney, 2007a). Indeed, it is little over 20 years ago that Baggott's (1988) study of UK and Norwegian policy sought to explain why the former was such a laggard compared to the former. The UK therefore represents one of most fruitful case-studies of tobacco policy change because it seems to have engaged in radical policy change in a relatively short period of time. Our aim is to explain this shift in policy direction. A complementary aim is to consider the issues in relative depth (compared to the broader comparative chapters), identifying the substance and nature of policy (considering, for example, the nature of voluntary agreements), and considering the forces for change, in greater detail

Federalism and Multilevel Governance in Tobacco Policy: The European Union, the United Kingdom, and Devolved UK Institutions

Most studies of tobacco control policy focus on the central level of national governments. Yet within the European Union, three levels of government have responsibilities for tobacco control: the EU; the central governments of member states; and provinces or devolved levels of government. This article examines the role of each in the formation of tobacco policy in the United Kingdom. It compares the theory of regulatory federalism with multilevel governance as explanations for tobacco regulatory policy within the EU. While executive-legislative fusion in the United Kingdom leads to the practice of discretionary federalism, the EU provides mixed support for the theory of regulatory federalism. There is significant policy innovation in the UK and its devolved territories as well as limited policy authority for tobacco control in the EU. Overall, multi-level governance (MLG) may be a superior, albeit incomplete, explanation of tobacco control within the EU and the UK

La construction de la femme fatale : les multiples scénarios masochistes de Lola Montès

Plus elle est cruelle et infidèle, plus elle le maltraite, plus elle joue avec lui gratuitement et plus elle est dure, plus elle fouette son désir et s’assure son amour et son admiration. Il en a toujours été ainsi, depuis l’époque d’Hélène et de Dalila, jusqu’à Catherine la Grande et Lola Montès.(Leopold de Sacher-Masoch, La Vénus à la fourrure) Les hommes se damnent pour t’offrir des trésors.(Chanson de M. Loyal, Lola Montès) Lola Montès est un film d’une étrangeté surprenante. Son atmosphè..

Structural elements in achieving legislative tobacco control in NSW, 1955-95: political reflections and implications.

Objective: To analyse structural factors revealed by politicians that shaped legislation on tobacco control in New South Wales, 1955-1995. Methods: Parliamentary debates and other records were collected. Open-ended interviews were conducted with 17 of the Members of Parliament (MPs) and health advocates who were significantly involved, and analysed for structural elements. Results: Tobacco industry lobbying had a significant but limited influence on policymaking, being exerted largely through social interactions with executives and based on concerns for the economic impacts on third parties. MPs saw health advocates’ chief functions as (1) generating community concern about the issue and support for control measures, and (2) bringing any new information to political attention, providing pro-control arguments and data through the media. Factors that delayed tobacco control policies included: the conservative stance of Premiers and major parties, commitments to unanimous federal action, and rivalry between parties. Factors that facilitated control policies included: reforms that gave the Legislative Council increased power, the use of Parliamentary committees, and backbencher and grass roots support. Conclusions: Tobacco control policy and legislation has been the product of political structures that gave power to those MPs in the least powerful positions – minor parties, Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs), backbenchers, women and party rank and file – rather than to major parties and their executives. Implications: Advocates should make the most of their access points to the political process, providing information, arguments and support to interested backbenchers, party and parliamentary health committees, the health ministers’ conference, minor parties and independents, and demonstrating public opinion in favour of further control.NHMR