Tobacco Control in Comparative Perspective: Framing the Problems and the Puzzles.

This paper comments on the similarities and differences in the contemporary regulatory behavior towards smoking in eight industrial democracies. It takes as its central source of information extended case studies of Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States written by specialists for a Robert Wood Johnson supported research project on the control of tobacco use. Assessing the relevance of competing theories of public policy formation, the paper concludes that the structure of political institutions provides the best guide to differences in regulatory regimes. In particular, the suggestion is that federal regimes --as compared with unitary political structures--are more likely to have moralistic campaigns against tobacco use, with health reformers choosing more attractive settings to advance their anti-tobacco agenda. The international flow of information and regulatory strategies provides convergence in the arguments employed and strategies tried, but there are clear differences in the strength of current regulations of tobacco use among these rich democracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]