Divided We Stand: Exploring the Alcohol Industry Framing of the Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act Consultation.

Abstract

The policymaking process is complex and fraught with challenges. The challenges and complexities make the process prone to contestation and capture by vested interests. Recent studies on the alcohol industry and their involvement in alcohol policies highlight the use of frames and framing (i.e. linguistic devices) as industry strategies for influencing alcohol policy processes. The frames used by alcohol industry actors in recent policy debates reflect and acknowledge cleavages and fragmentation within the industry. They also signal that cleavages within an industry can, in turn, affect their reputation and legitimacy. But is this always the case? As such, this study, takes frames, framing, and their possible implications seriously, and explores the role frames and framing play in contested and complex policy spaces, which are likely to be fraught with cleavages. Drawing from the Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act which was highly contested, first amongst industry actors and then between industry actors and policymakers, this study seeks to unravel the role frames and framing play in: (1) the construction and constitution of cleavages, and (2) the maintenance of intra, inter, and extra-industry legitimacies, despite strong contestations. Scotland offers a fertile ground for the study because in recent years, Scotland, under the Scottish National Party (SNP) government, has introduced many public health driven policies. Scotland has also gained traction as a global pacesetter in public health policies.
The data sources used in this thesis comprise of documents and semi-structured interviews. The data was analysed and interpreted using a theoretical approach to thematic analysis guided by frame theory and legitimacy theory. The study found that: (1) a discursive approach to deconstructing industry cleavages overcomes some of the challenges inherent in the conventional functional and structural approaches to understanding cleavages, and offers further insights on interest-based cleavages; (2) actors in a policymaking process use frames and framing to simultaneously contest and collaborate; and the ability to create a balance between contestation and collaboration is critical in constructing and maintaining both intra and inter industry legitimacy; (3) the government adopted various complementary discursive strategies that helped to sustain the alcohol industry’s legitimacy; (4) cleavages do not often negatively impact on intra-industry cohesion nor the industry ability to work with the government, as previous works tend to suggest. Based on this finding further policy recommendations were advanced.