Ambiguity, Resistance, and Change: Tobacco Control Policy-Making in South Africa and Mauritius

Abstract

This thesis seeks to understand and explain the process of tobacco control policy making in Mauritius and South Africa. It does so by drawing on an analytical perspective that takes insights from multiple theories of the policy process. This dissertation explains how the interplay of agendas, institutions, ideas, and interests affect the processes and mechanisms of tobacco control policy making in South Africa and Mauritius. Through a historical process tracing and comparative case studies, this dissertation seeks to better understand the critical roles of anti-tobacco interest groups, national and global epistemic communities, tobacco control ideas, government turnovers, and policy entrepreneurs in the adoption of tobacco control policies in the face of industry resistance. Tracing the historical evolution of tobacco control policies in South Africa and Mauritius reveals that embedded opposition from vested interest groups at every stage of the policy process complicates responses to the tobacco issue. Despite these embedded difficulties, these case studies demonstrate how a confluence of scientific and economic ideas, institutional capacity, political commitment, and tactical problem definitions led to stringent tobacco control policies. The two case studies remind us of the importance of timing for policy intervention, as tobacco control policy in South Africa was not implemented until the 1990s, despite the overwhelming domestic and global evidence of the carcinogenic properties of tobacco. Similarly, Mauritius did not adopt a proper tobacco control program until the mid-1990s, when the Mauritius Labour Party (MLP) won office with a tobacco control agenda.