The Battle for Standardised Cigarette Packaging in Europe

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Benjamin Hawkins, Chris Holden, Sophie Mackinder

   Pages 1-15

3. Policy Transfer in the Context of Multi-level Governance

   • Benjamin Hawkins, Chris Holden, Sophie Mackinder

   Pages 17-44

4. The EU Tobacco Products Directive

   • Benjamin Hawkins, Chris Holden, Sophie Mackinder

   Pages 45-76

5. The Member-State Level: Standardised Packaging in Ireland and Beyond

   • Benjamin Hawkins, Chris Holden, Sophie Mackinder

   Pages 77-101

6. Policy Transfer and Transnational NGO Networks

   • Benjamin Hawkins, Chris Holden, Sophie Mackinder

   Pages 103-125

7. Discussion and Conclusion

   • Benjamin Hawkins, Chris Holden, Sophie Mackinder

   Pages 127-146

8. Back Matter

   Pages 147-154

   PDF

"This book is essential reading for researchers of tobacco policy change. Too many studies simply complain that change is too slow because tobacco companies are too powerful and politicians lack the will to challenge them. This book goes much further, to help us understand not just industry strategy but the policy processes in which policy advocates engage, learn from each other, and help create essential global tobacco policy change."

Paul Cairney, University of Stirling, UK


"This book is rare in making genuinely significant contributions across both public health and policy studies. By focusing on the battle for standardised packs, it engagingly addresses one of the most prominent recent innovations in health policy that has relevance both beyond Europe and across multiple spheres of health policy. In doing so, it also offers an innovative analysis of the role of transnational corporations in policy transfer."
Jeff Collin, University of Edinburgh, UK



This book analyses the battle for standardised cigarette packaging (‘plain packaging’) in Europe, drawing on the concepts of multi-level governance and policy transfer. It analyses the strategies of policy makers, non-governmental organisations and transnational tobacco companies in attempting either to advance or to block the introduction of standardised packaging. Taking a global and multi-level approach, it analyses these struggles within European Union institutions, EU member states, and across jurisdictions, as NGOs and tobacco companies worked transnationally to counter each other. As well as presenting original empirical research detailing these policy battles, the book provides new theoretical insights into policy transfer processes, particularly within multi-level polities, showing how transnational corporations can have dramatic effects on these processes. The book will appeal equally to public health researchers, policy analysts and political scientists.

• standardised tobacco packaging
• plain packaging
• transnational tobacco companies
• cigarettes
• multi-level governance
• policy transfer
• policy learning
• corporations
• tobacco control
• EU Tobacco Products Directive
• European Commission
• European Parliament
• Ireland
• European Union
• Australia
• non-governmental organisations
• methods
• strategy
• litigation
• european union politics

• London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK

  Benjamin Hawkins

• University of York, York, UK

  Chris Holden

• Social Policy and Social Work, University of York, York, UK

  Sophie Mackinder

Benjamin R. Hawkins is Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Health and Development at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. His research focuses principally on the role of corporate actors on alcohol and tobacco regulation. In addition, he has published work on European integration, multi-level governance, international trade and political economy approaches to health policy. 


Chris Holden is Reader in International Social Policy at the University of York, UK. He has published widely on the relationships between the global economy, transnational corporations and health and social policy. He has been a member of the Executive Committee of the UK Social Policy Association, the Editorial Board of the Journal of Social Policy, and the International Advisory Board of Global Social Policy. 


Sophie Mackinder is Associate Lecturer in International Development and Global Social Policy at the University of York, UK. Her research interests include social protection, fragile states and the World Bank.

Policies and ethics