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Tobacco's Tipping Point: The Master Settlement Agreement as a Focusing Event
Author(s) -
Wood Robert S.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
policy studies journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.773
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1541-0072
pISSN - 0190-292X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1541-0072.2006.00180.x
Subject(s) - tipping point (physics) , settlement (finance) , event (particle physics) , neglect , point (geometry) , diagrammatic reasoning , positive economics , political science , law and economics , sociology , history , political economy , economics , psychology , computer science , engineering , finance , physics , geometry , mathematics , quantum mechanics , psychiatry , electrical engineering , payment , programming language
Focusing events have been widely referenced in policy studies literature as important drivers of major policy change. In multiple streams theory, punctuated equilibrium theory, and the advocacy coalition framework, they play a prominent role in explaining how major changes occur. Nearly all existing research, however, has focused on the very large and catastrophic events that catapult otherwise obscure issues onto the agenda, to the neglect of focusing events that may perform other functions. This article examines one such event: the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) between the tobacco industry and the states signed in 1998. I observe that although the MSA focused substantial attention on the topic of tobacco regulation, produced major policy change, and shifted the policy image of the domain, it was not a typical focusing event. Drawing from the tipping point theories of Sociology and Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point , I expand a theoretical distinction articulated by Baumgartner and Jones between “triggering” events and “consolidating” or “tipping” events to resolve this discrepancy.