Groups, governance and the development of UK alcohol policy: an adversarial policy communities approach

The governance of UK alcohol policy looks like a textbook case of decision-making by a closed community of policymakers and industry insiders, but this thesis challenges this view. Drawing on Jordan and Richardson’s policy communities approach and Dudley and Richardson’s later work on adversarial policy communities, it examines the complex development of UK alcohol policy using archival sources, government and pressure group reports, news releases and historic media coverage going back over a century. The primary focus of this research is Westminster, but the importance of subnational policy communities is also considered through an examination of Scottish alcohol policy development. Through case studies of four key areas of UK alcohol policy – licensing, drink-driving, pricing and wider alcohol strategies – this thesis finds that the governance of UK alcohol policy is formed within policy communities, but ones that are much less closed and much more adversarial than traditionally thought. Alcohol-producer groups exert significant influence on UK alcohol policy, but their influence peaked in the 1960s. Thereafter, policy communities fragmented as intra-industry divisions widened and public health groups made their influence felt. This research demonstrates that the policy community approach, in its adversarial form, remains relevant for understanding periods of policy stability and more radical reform in British politics. Further work is nonetheless required to understand more clearly the politics of collaboration and outsourcing within this variant of policy communities