Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
be meaningless. the treaty that emerged was seen as having 'remarkably little to
do with international relations', with the intended framework convention approach
being jettisoned in response to pressure from advocacy groups:
a framework convention is supposed to broadly state general governing principles on
which all countries can agree and then spin off related optional protocols that contain
more specific substantive obligations … the framework model did not serve the needs
of the nGos, the health ministers who were looking to force the hands of their own
governments, or the trade lawyers who were looking for a little extra help in the trade
courts. Figuring that international political pressure would push countries into signing the
main convention but would not extend far enough to push them into optional protocols,
the groups in question undertook to pack the convention full of all the substantive
provisions that were on their wish lists (Jacob 2004, 299).
This account arguably reflects a somewhat jaundiced view of the dynamics of
the Fctc, ignoring the extent to which the strategies of many participants were
shaped by a perceived need to prevent the comparatively isolated U.S. position from
determining the contents of a treaty it was extremely unlikely to ratify. but Jacob
does highlight significant problems with the process and content of the FCTC, and
can be more broadly viewed to be illustrating tensions inherent in pursuing public
health objectives using an instrument of international relations.
Partnership
by contrast, an interpretation of the Fctc as a partnership between health and
other policy communities offers the most highly idealised interpretation of its
development. this pattern describes a relationship in which the skills and interests
of several communities are brought together to mutual benefit, but without any one
policy community being dominant or privileged. this depiction accords strongly
with how the wHo has sought to present the process of Fctc negotiation, providing
what could be termed its hagiography.
the Fctc has been presented by Jennifer Prah ruger (2004; 2005) as emblematic
of a powerful new approach within development policy, demonstrating how health
agencies can work with other institutions and actors to promote global health goals:
through the Fctc, ministries of health and health-related associations, such as physicians
groups, are united with ministries of finance, economic planning, taxation, labour,
industry, and education as well as with citizen groups and the private sector, to create
a multisectoral national and international tobacco-control effort. the Fctc represents
a growing trend in development policy toward an alternative paradigm that is broad,
integrated, and multifaceted (ruger 2004, 1080).
In combination with the unparalleled cooperation across diverse government
ministries, the collaboration between the world bank and the wHo that characterised
