About this Book

Understanding the international and domestic politics of the commercial determinants of health is a new area of scholarly inquiry. Perhaps more than ever, the political science, policy, and public health community needs to better understand the complex political contexts shaping the rise and policy influence of the commercial industry, ranging from tobacco to alcohol, agribusiness, and food products.

Initial efforts to address the commercial sector’s political and policy involvement emerged with the corporate political activity literature, which mainly focused on the tobacco industry’s efforts to shape noncommunicable disease (NCD) policy. Over the years, public health practitioners, nutrition and social scientists have built upon this existing literature to expand beyond the tobacco industry, looking, for example, at food and nutrition, and alcohol policy in several upper- and lower-middle income countries. With the arrival of several innovative NCD policies throughout the world, such as soda taxes and food warning labels, coupled with increased international attention through multilateral agencies like the World Health Organization, we have now reached a critical juncture in scholarly interest and attention to this topic.