The Neoliberal Regulatory State, Industry Interests, and the Ideological Penetration of Scientific Knowledge

Abraham, John; Ballinger, Rachel

doi:10.1177/0162243911424914

Cited by 24 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Whether corporations secure favourable policy outcomes depends not only on their actions but also on how those promoting the policy position their case and respond to corporate strategising, and how readily policy-makers accept corporations’ dystopian cost-based projections. Studies in other areas [ 101 – 103 ] indicate that governments attach considerable emphasis to corporate claims when contemplating health related policies. Furthermore, corporations’ emphasis on projected costs of public health policies dovetails with the “Better Regulation” agenda that increasingly dominates European, Australasian, and North American policy landscapes [ 104 – 106 ] and is often accompanied by mandatory impact assessments of costs and benefits.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Policy Dystopia Model: An Interpretive Analysis of Tobacco Industry Political Activity

2016

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BackgroundTobacco industry interference has been identified as the greatest obstacle to the implementation of evidence-based measures to reduce tobacco use. Understanding and addressing industry interference in public health policy-making is therefore crucial. Existing conceptualisations of corporate political activity (CPA) are embedded in a business perspective and do not attend to CPA’s social and public health costs; most have not drawn on the unique resource represented by internal tobacco industry documents. Building on this literature, including systematic reviews, we develop a critically informed conceptual model of tobacco industry political activity.Methods and FindingsWe thematically analysed published papers included in two systematic reviews examining tobacco industry influence on taxation and marketing of tobacco; we included 45 of 46 papers in the former category and 20 of 48 papers in the latter (n = 65). We used a grounded theory approach to build taxonomies of “discursive” (argument-based) and “instrumental” (action-based) industry strategies and from these devised the Policy Dystopia Model, which shows that the industry, working through different constituencies, constructs a metanarrative to argue that proposed policies will lead to a dysfunctional future of policy failure and widely dispersed adverse social and economic consequences. Simultaneously, it uses diverse, interlocking insider and outsider instrumental strategies to disseminate this narrative and enhance its persuasiveness in order to secure its preferred policy outcomes. Limitations are that many papers were historical (some dating back to the 1970s) and focused on high-income regions.ConclusionsThe model provides an evidence-based, accessible way of understanding diverse corporate political strategies. It should enable public health actors and officials to preempt these strategies and develop realistic assessments of the industry’s claims.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Policy Dystopia Model: An Interpretive Analysis of Tobacco Industry Political Activity

2016

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“…The developments observed corresponds with Wards’ description of New Public Management, where trust is “replaced by assessment at a distance” [ 38 ]. As Abraham has previously suggested that New Public Management has shaped pharmaceutical legislation [ 39 ], the developments observed in this study may benefit from being analysed in such a context.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Fighting falsified medicines with paperwork – a historic review of Danish legislation governing distribution of medicines

Borup

Kaae

Minssen

et al. 2016

J of Pharm Policy and Pract

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BackgroundMany areas of pharmaceutical legislation in the European Union (EU) are harmonised in order to promote the internal market and protect public health. Ideally, harmonisation leads to less fragmented regulation and cross-border complexities. This study, however, focuses on an increasingly harmonised legislative area that is subject to increases in requirements and complexities: the distribution of medicines. This study compared Danish legislation governing the distribution of medicines before and after Denmark joined the EU in order to assess the impact of EU harmonisation, as well as to evaluate whether the drastic increases in requirements mandated by the Falsified Medicines Directive of 2011 correspond to a new approach to governing the pharmaceutical supply chain.MethodsA review was conducted of 115 applicable Danish laws, executive orders and guidelines from 1913 to 2014. Legal requirements were organised according to the year they were published and the companies they affected. Greater changes in legislative requirements were developed through inductive content analysis.ResultsEarly legislation positioned pharmacies as gatekeepers, requiring them to identify and stop medicines of substandard quality. Legislation to regulate the supply chain was slow to materialise. After Denmark joined the EU, the scope of legislation widened to include all actors in the supply chain, and the quantity of legislation increased dramatically. Simultaneously, requirements became more specific, thereby promoting a formalistic interpretation and focusing the attention of companies and authorities on predefined areas with little room to implement innovative solutions. Over time, documentation became the focus of legislation, requiring companies to provide documentary evidence for their compliance with legislation. The Falsified Medicines Directive continues these trends by increasing requirements for documentation and promoting a formalistic interpretation.ConclusionThe legislative approach adopted since Denmark joined the EU gives companies and medicine inspectors little room to interpret legislation. The Falsified Medicines Directive does not depart from this approach. Legislation seems more focused on enforcing similar requirements than on benefiting public health. Legislation may benefit from allowing room for local interpretation of requirements.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40545-016-0078-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Standards matter in the West for the CE because they help to coordinate the timely flows of materials for customers and suppliers. Related work in other sectors, especially medicine, is suggestive of the ways in which the framing of knowledge by institutions takes place (Abraham and Ballinger, 2012). In China, as shown by its implementation of its Green Sword policy, standards are a much more explicit part of the central government's regulatory apparatus and can be utilised, for example, to curb trade.…”

Section: Sociology Of Knowledge Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Governance of the circular economy: A comparative examination of the use of standards by China and the United Kingdom

Flynn

Hacking

Xie

2019

Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions

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Wastes, like other materials, have become increasingly global in their flows. The circular economy (CE) is a multi-level sustainability transition linked to the global trade in waste. China has long been a key trading partner for the West's waste materials. However, its rethinking of the quality of traded recyclable materials has triggered a crisis in the global governance of waste flows. We utilise a Sociology of Knowledge approach to undertake comparative work to better understand how different governance arrangements may facilitate or constrain the unfolding of this sustainability transition. The UK and China were selected as models of liberal and authoritarian environmental governance respectively. A mixed-method approach was pursued using qualitative interviews with key stakeholders and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data from secondary sources. Thematic analysis is organised around: perceptions of the circular economy, meanings of standards, and perspectives on trade and materials.

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The Neoliberal Regulatory State, Industry Interests, and the Ideological Penetration of Scientific Knowledge

Abstract: It is argued that neoliberal political ideology has redefined the regulatory state to have greater convergence of interests and goals with the pharmaceutical industry than previously, particularly regarding acceleration and

Cited by 24 publications

References 53 publications

The Policy Dystopia Model: An Interpretive Analysis of Tobacco Industry Political Activity

The Policy Dystopia Model: An Interpretive Analysis of Tobacco Industry Political Activity

Fighting falsified medicines with paperwork – a historic review of Danish legislation governing distribution of medicines

Governance of the circular economy: A comparative examination of the use of standards by China and the United Kingdom

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