My current research agenda includes examining and building upon public policy theory, comparative public policy, complexity and public policy, well being and public policy, corporate actions and policy, and public health policy. My policy theory research addresses the nature of policy change including complexity and who may dominate in the policy process including the theories of social policy realism and critical realism. My comparative public policy research includes an examination of global well being indicators that review objective and subjective indications of societal progress based on an integration of social, economic, and environmental factors. My health policy research examines the nexus between policy making and economic factors in the area of tobacco policy.
Articles
Nonpunctuated and Sweeping Policy Change: Bhutan Tobacco Policy Making from 1991 to 2009, Review of Policy Research (2012)
This paper examines policy outputs associated with the 2004 Bhutan antitobacco law, including 2009 amendments,...
Bureaucratic Advocacy and Ethics A State-Level Case of Public Agency Rulemaking and Tobacco Control Policy (with Andrew Spivak), Public Integrity (2012)
Before 2001, the Oklahoma Department of Health achieved little to protect the public from the...
Tobacco Policymaking and Administration in Bhutan from 1991 to 2009, International Journal of Public Administration (2011)
From 1991 to 2004, a significant grassroots campaign, in the eastern Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan,...
History of Bhutan's prohibition of cigarettes: Implications for neo-prohibitionists and their critics, International Journal of Drug Policy (2011)
Recently, cigarette neo-prohibitionists have argued that a cigarette ban can be obtained from a de-facto...
Deconstructing Social Constructionist Theory in Tobacco Policy: The Case of the Less Hazardous Cigarette, Journal of Policy Practice (2011)
Scholars in tobacco control have utilized a social construction approach to test and explain tobacco...
Contributions to Books
Tobacco Industry Media Efforts to Defeat State Tobacco Control Tax Referenda and Initiatives, National Cancer Institute, Monograph 19: Use of the Media to Promote and Discourage Tobacco Use (2008)
Other
Progress Delayed: State of Tobacco Control Policymaking in Oklahoma From 2005-2011 (with Ami E. Stearns and Andrew Spivak) (2011)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• Oklahoma’s 1987 Smoking In Public Places Act required the inclusion of smoking...
From Industry Dominance to Legislative Progress: The Political and Public Health Struggle of Tobacco Control on Oklahoma (with Andrew L. Spivak M.A.), Tobacco Control (2005)
The tobacco industry is a major political force in Oklahoma through lobbying, direct campaign contributions,...
Political Reform and Tobacco Control Policy Making in Mississippi From 1990 to 2001 (with Stanton A. Glantz Ph.D.), Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education (2002)
The tobacco industry is a major political force in Mississippi though lobbying, litigation, public relations,...
Tobacco Policy Making in California 1999-2001: Stalled and Adrift (with Joanna Dearlove B.A. and Stanton A. Glantz Ph.D.), Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education (2001)
The tobacco industry remains a powerful force in California politics through lobbying, campaign contributions, public...