Tobacco control in the USA and Canada

Although tobacco control is a multidisciplinary field, it is one that is practised by considerably fewer political scientists than health practitioners, lawyers or economists. For that reason alone, Donley Studlar’s examination of the development of tobacco control measures in the USA and Canada is a noteworthy contribution. There are many reasons other than novelty to read and reflect upon this political scientist’s analysis of how similar-but-different nations with similar-but-different constraints adopted similar-but-different public measures and achieved similar-but-different results.

In analysing the flow of policies north and south across the border, this study provides useful explanations for why some ideas are more readily received than others. Professor Studlar thoughtfully presents major differences in US and Canadian political systems, cultures and institutions that …