Risk, Regulation and Crisis: Comparing National Responses in Food Safety Regulation

Abstract

The literature on risk regulation often assumes a direct link between public pressure and regulatory responses. This article investigates whether the direction of regulatory response is related to public argumentation as expressed in the national print media. Three approaches are explored: national policy patterns, political panics expressed in Pavlovian politics, and policy responses shaped by universal policy paradigms. It assesses these three approaches in comparative perspective by looking at scandals in food safety regulation in Denmark, Germany and the US, looking at argumentation patterns in the national print media and using a coding system derived from grid-group cultural theory and regulatory responses. While all three countries display mostly hierarchical argumentation patterns, their actual regulatory responses point to diverse patterns.

Fearing Food: The Influence of Risk Perceptions on Public Preferences for Uniform and Centralized Risk Regulation

“…Regulations to manage risk in society arise, at least in part, because the public demands government protection from anxiety‐provoking hazards (e.g. Breyer, ; Howlett & Newman, ; Lodge, ; Newman & Howlett, ; Wildavsky, ). Public perceptions of risk vary by policy domain, but it is common for perceptions in all domains to change in response to exogenous events or crises; technological advances; and, importantly, elite framing (Albertson & Gadarian, ; Merolla & Zechmeister, ; Slovic, ; Slovic, Finucane, Peters, & MacGregor, ; Wildavsky & Dake, ).…”

Framing and policy change after shooting rampages: a comparative analysis of discourse networks

“…Some studies also analysed regulatory responses to specific types of events like dog attacks (Lodge and Hood 2002), food scandals (Lodge 2011) or explosions in firework factories (de Vries 2004). Contributing to this line of inquiry, we selected three shooting rampages for comparative purposes based on their varying impacts on the gun policies of the countries in which they occurred:…”

Coevolution of policy sectors: A comparative analysis of healthcare and public health

“…Consequently, the healthcare sector comprises policies that focus primarily on care for sick individuals instead of preventing the diseases of a population. On the contrary, the public health sector entails policies that focus on the entire population or a group and aim to prevent illnesses from breaking out (Allin et al ; Rosenbrock and Gerlinger ), for example by passing food safety legislation (Lodge ) (further examples in table ).…”