R Ralston
Biographic Data
| ID | 10145 |
|---|---|
| NAME | R Ralston |
| GIVEN NAMES | R |
| FAMILY NAME | Ralston |
| SIGNATURE | RALSTON R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Edinburgh |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8664-3565 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 28 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 9 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 28 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Non-governmental organisations and the regulation of harmful commodity industries: Navigating global governance to change corporate practices
Background The crucial role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in advancing effective regulation of health-harming corporate practices is widely accepted, yet how precisely they shape global health governance is not well-understood. While a vast literature has grappled with corporate power and its political, market, and technological dimensions, less attention has been paid to strategic efforts to counter the influence of corporate actors. …
Global environmental governance after liberal environmentalism
Global environmental governance has long been predicated on a normative compromise, commonly referred to as ‘liberal environmentalism’, which posits that addressing global environmental challenges requires the promotion and maintenance of a liberal economic order. Today, however, the global economy is fragmenting across its material, ideational, and institutional dimensions due to renewed geopolitical rivalry and the resurgence of state capitalis…
The battle for plastic hegemony: The petrochemical historical bloc and the UN Global Plastics Treaty
Plastics are a ubiquitous feature of contemporary consumer capitalism. Despite scientific evidence and public awareness of the mounting health and environmental impacts of plastics pollution, global production is projected to grow significantly. Going beyond firm and industry-level accounts, we introduce the concept of a ‘petrochemical historical bloc’ to better capture the diverse alliances of state, corporate, financial, and civic actors that c…
Competing axes of power in the global plastics treaty: Understanding the politics of progress and setbacks in negotiating a high-ambition agreement
Headlines in December 2024 proclaimed the “collapse” and “failure” of United Nations plastics treaty negotiations in Busan, South Korea. This is, however, an overly simplistic and pessimistic portrayal. Progress on less contentious issues was made, and the meeting was adjourned with a commitment to continue negotiating in 2025 on the basis of the “Chair’s text.” Significantly, at the closing plenary, a majority of states voiced support for a “hig…
The Trojan Horse of Hybrid Governance: Corporate Power and Global Plastics Governance
This article examines the emergence of a hybrid institutional complex (HIC) in global plastics governance. By interrogating the structure, features, and contradictions of hybrid global plastics governance, we foreground the de facto orchestrator role of the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) that promotes multistakeholder partnerships to redress plastic pollution and to realise SDG 12 on Responsible Consumption and Production. However, we contend …
Preventing corporate capture: Democratic legitimacy and the global plastics treaty
Unpacking plastic credits: Challenges to effective and just global plastics governance
Corporate Power in a Multistakeholder World: Venue Hopping and the Multilevel Politics of Ultra‐Processed Food
The regulation of business is increasingly characterized by “soft” governance regimes that blur the boundaries of public and private authority, as signaled by the rapid proliferation of multistakeholder initiatives in global governance. This article explores how the spread of multistakeholderism creates opportunities for new forms of strategic action, enabling actors to participate in multiple fora, successively or simultaneously in order to purs…
Plastic Partnerships: How Corporations Are Hedging Against the UN Global Plastics Treaty
The global plastic crisis has intensified over the past decade, pressuring corporations to address their environmental impact. In response to a UN resolution to negotiate a treaty to end plastic pollution, corporate actors have reoriented their sustainability strategies. This forum article examines how companies across the petrochemical–plastics industry have adopted a “hedging strategy” to undermine stricter regulations, promoting industry-led m…
Protecting the right to science in multilateral environmental agreements addressing chemicals and plastics pollution
Scientific evidence supports dominant institutional understandings of the global socio-ecological crises of the triple planetary crisis-climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution-demonstrating the profound impacts of human activities on Earth systems. Pollution is intimately tied to these crises, through extractivism and production of chemicals, including plastics and poses serious threats to the environment and human rights. While science i…
NGOs and Global Business Regulation of Transnational Alcohol and Ultra-Processed Food Industries
The intensification of efforts by state and nonstate actors to address issues affecting global health has produced a patchwork of transnational regulatory governance. Within this field, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are expected to perform authoritative roles in holding business actors to account and enhance the democratic legitimacy of institutions via their participation in governance processes. While there exists a large body of concept…
The WHO Foundation in global health governance: Depoliticizing corporate philanthropy
The creation of the WHO Foundation during the COVID-19 pandemic represents a significant institutional development in the politics of financing the World Health Organization (WHO). In the context of longstanding acute financial pressures, the objective of the WHO Foundation is to widen WHO's resource base by attracting philanthropic donations from the commercial sector. In placing funding decisions 'at one remove' from WHO, the stated expectation…
Reconceptualising the commercial determinants of health: Bringing institutions in
The concept of the ‘commercial determinants of health’ (CDOH) has been developed by public health researchers as a way to describe the political economy of corporations and the impact of their practices on health, social inequalities and climate change. In this analysis, we assess the conceptual work that has developed this field and the influence of the more established ‘social determinants of health’ models. We highlight the dominance of epidem…
Fifty shades of partnerships: A governance typology for public private engagement in the nutrition sector
BACKGROUND: Multistakeholder collaboration has emerged as a dominant approach for engaging and mobilising non-state actors; notably embedded in the paradigm of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Yet, considerable ambiguity and contestation surrounds the appropriate terms of public private engagement (PPE) with industry actors. MAIN BODY: This paper seeks to conceptualise different forms of engagement with the food industry in tackling diet-rel…
The law of diminishing returns? The challenge of using freedom of information legislation for health policy research
The many meanings of policy instruments: Exploring Individual and Structural Determinants in Obesity Policy
Health inequalities researchers have long advocated for governments to adopt policy instruments that address structural determinants of health rather than targeting individual behaviours. The assumption behind this position is that such instruments might challenge a core neoliberal principle of individualism embedded in the prevailing health policy paradigm. We critique this assumption by highlighting the discursive construction of policy instrum…
Advancing whole-of-government approaches to tobacco control: Article 5.3 and the challenge of policy coordination in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India and Uganda
Supporting effective implementation of Article 5.3 is key to advancing multisectoral approaches to FCTC implementation and tobacco control's contributions to global health and sustainable development
Firm foundation or neglected cornerstone? The paradox of Article 5.3 implementation and the challenge of strengthening tobacco control governance
That is a Ministry of Health thing’: Article 5.3 implementation in Uganda and the challenge of whole-of-government accountability
This paper demonstrates the intrinsic challenges of developing whole-of-government approaches, highlighting considerable uncertainty and ambiguity among decision makers in Uganda about tobacco control governance. The analysis points to the potential for Uganda's national coordinating mechanism to help reconcile competing expectations and demonstrate the importance of Article 5.3 beyond health actors
Institutional tensions, corporate social responsibility and district-level governance of tobacco industry interference: Analysing challenges in local implementation of Article 5.3 measures in Karnatak…
Promoting effective implementation of Article 5.3 in Karnataka will require policymakers to work across policy silos and reconcile tensions across India's national health and economic priorities
A contradiction between our state and the tobacco company’: Conflicts of interest and institutional constraints as barriers to implementing Article 5.3 in Bangladesh
NTCC's initiatives towards implementing Article 5.3 constitute an important opportunity to address conflicts of interest that restrict tobacco control in Bangladesh. Progress in minimising industry interference is essential to realising the commitment to being smoke free by 2040
Norms, rules and policy tools: Understanding Article 5.3 as an instrument of tobacco control governance
Conceptualising Article 5.3 as a policy instrument helps to explain how its rules and policy tools interact with each other and with broader governance processes. This framework has the potential to enhance understanding of Article 5.3 and help identify opportunities and constraints in its implementation
They have a right to participate as a stakeholder’: Article 5.3 implementation and government interactions with the tobacco industry in Ethiopia
The Ethiopian government's recent achievements in tobacco control legislation require that policymakers are actively supported in reconciling perceived tensions and requirements for stakeholder consultation. Effective tobacco control governance would be further enhanced by enabling government agencies to more clearly identify which interactions with the tobacco industry are strictly necessary under Article 5.3 guideline recommendations
Understanding the dynamics of notification and implementation of Article 5.3 across India’s states and union territories
The spread of state- and district-level policies illustrates opportunities federal structures can provide for accelerating tobacco control. Given significant omissions and policy tensions, there remains a need for national action to build on these innovations, including in revisions to India's tobacco control legislation
The new WHO Foundation — global health deserves better
box The WHO remains a linchpin in global health not least in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It relies on contributions from donors and member states,1 but there have been well-documented issues with the models of funding adopted, the size and sources of financial contributions and donor influence in vertically driving specific priorities,2 in contrast to the wider health governance mandate of the WHO. Adequate resources and independence are c…
The informal governance of public-private partnerships in UK obesity policy: Collaborating on calorie reduction or reducing effectiveness
Plastic Partnerships: How Corporations Are Hedging Against the UN Global Plastics Treaty
The global plastic crisis has intensified over the past decade, pressuring corporations to address their environmental impact. In response to a UN resolution to negotiate a treaty to end plastic pollution, corporate actors have reoriented their sustainability strategies. This forum article examines how companies across the petrochemical–plastics industry have adopted a “hedging strategy” to undermine stricter regulations, promoting industry-led m…
The WHO Foundation in global health governance: Depoliticizing corporate philanthropy
The creation of the WHO Foundation during the COVID-19 pandemic represents a significant institutional development in the politics of financing the World Health Organization (WHO). In the context of longstanding acute financial pressures, the objective of the WHO Foundation is to widen WHO's resource base by attracting philanthropic donations from the commercial sector. In placing funding decisions 'at one remove' from WHO, the stated expectation…
Non-communicable disease governance in the era of the sustainable development goals: A qualitative analysis of food industry framing in WHO consultations
BACKGROUND: The UN system's shift towards multistakeholder governance, now embedded in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), invites a broad range of actors, including the private sector, to the policymaking table. Although the tobacco industry is formally excluded from engagement, this approach provides opportunities for other unhealthy commodity industries to influence the World Health Organization's (WHO's) non-communicable disease (NCD) a…
The new WHO Foundation — global health deserves better
box The WHO remains a linchpin in global health not least in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It relies on contributions from donors and member states,1 but there have been well-documented issues with the models of funding adopted, the size and sources of financial contributions and donor influence in vertically driving specific priorities,2 in contrast to the wider health governance mandate of the WHO. Adequate resources and independence are c…
Private and personal”: Corporate political activity, informal governance, and the undermining of marketing regulation in Brazil
Few studies have investigated corporate political activity by unhealthy commodity industries in low- and middle-income countries, and the significance of social and political context has been largely neglected. This study aimed to explore the stalled development of marketing restriction policies in Brazil with an analysis of strategies used to undermine the Legal Framework for Early Childhood. Using a constructivist approach based on a typology o…
The informal governance of public-private partnerships in UK obesity policy: Collaborating on calorie reduction or reducing effectiveness
Advancing whole-of-government approaches to tobacco control: Article 5.3 and the challenge of policy coordination in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India and Uganda
Supporting effective implementation of Article 5.3 is key to advancing multisectoral approaches to FCTC implementation and tobacco control's contributions to global health and sustainable development
Firm foundation or neglected cornerstone? The paradox of Article 5.3 implementation and the challenge of strengthening tobacco control governance
That is a Ministry of Health thing’: Article 5.3 implementation in Uganda and the challenge of whole-of-government accountability
This paper demonstrates the intrinsic challenges of developing whole-of-government approaches, highlighting considerable uncertainty and ambiguity among decision makers in Uganda about tobacco control governance. The analysis points to the potential for Uganda's national coordinating mechanism to help reconcile competing expectations and demonstrate the importance of Article 5.3 beyond health actors
Institutional tensions, corporate social responsibility and district-level governance of tobacco industry interference: Analysing challenges in local implementation of Article 5.3 measures in Karnatak…
Promoting effective implementation of Article 5.3 in Karnataka will require policymakers to work across policy silos and reconcile tensions across India's national health and economic priorities
A contradiction between our state and the tobacco company’: Conflicts of interest and institutional constraints as barriers to implementing Article 5.3 in Bangladesh
NTCC's initiatives towards implementing Article 5.3 constitute an important opportunity to address conflicts of interest that restrict tobacco control in Bangladesh. Progress in minimising industry interference is essential to realising the commitment to being smoke free by 2040
Norms, rules and policy tools: Understanding Article 5.3 as an instrument of tobacco control governance
Conceptualising Article 5.3 as a policy instrument helps to explain how its rules and policy tools interact with each other and with broader governance processes. This framework has the potential to enhance understanding of Article 5.3 and help identify opportunities and constraints in its implementation
They have a right to participate as a stakeholder’: Article 5.3 implementation and government interactions with the tobacco industry in Ethiopia
The Ethiopian government's recent achievements in tobacco control legislation require that policymakers are actively supported in reconciling perceived tensions and requirements for stakeholder consultation. Effective tobacco control governance would be further enhanced by enabling government agencies to more clearly identify which interactions with the tobacco industry are strictly necessary under Article 5.3 guideline recommendations
Understanding the dynamics of notification and implementation of Article 5.3 across India’s states and union territories
The spread of state- and district-level policies illustrates opportunities federal structures can provide for accelerating tobacco control. Given significant omissions and policy tensions, there remains a need for national action to build on these innovations, including in revisions to India's tobacco control legislation
Reconceptualising the commercial determinants of health: Bringing institutions in
The concept of the ‘commercial determinants of health’ (CDOH) has been developed by public health researchers as a way to describe the political economy of corporations and the impact of their practices on health, social inequalities and climate change. In this analysis, we assess the conceptual work that has developed this field and the influence of the more established ‘social determinants of health’ models. We highlight the dominance of epidem…
Fifty shades of partnerships: A governance typology for public private engagement in the nutrition sector
BACKGROUND: Multistakeholder collaboration has emerged as a dominant approach for engaging and mobilising non-state actors; notably embedded in the paradigm of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Yet, considerable ambiguity and contestation surrounds the appropriate terms of public private engagement (PPE) with industry actors. MAIN BODY: This paper seeks to conceptualise different forms of engagement with the food industry in tackling diet-rel…
The law of diminishing returns? The challenge of using freedom of information legislation for health policy research
The many meanings of policy instruments: Exploring Individual and Structural Determinants in Obesity Policy
Health inequalities researchers have long advocated for governments to adopt policy instruments that address structural determinants of health rather than targeting individual behaviours. The assumption behind this position is that such instruments might challenge a core neoliberal principle of individualism embedded in the prevailing health policy paradigm. We critique this assumption by highlighting the discursive construction of policy instrum…
NGOs and Global Business Regulation of Transnational Alcohol and Ultra-Processed Food Industries
The intensification of efforts by state and nonstate actors to address issues affecting global health has produced a patchwork of transnational regulatory governance. Within this field, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are expected to perform authoritative roles in holding business actors to account and enhance the democratic legitimacy of institutions via their participation in governance processes. While there exists a large body of concept…
The WHO Foundation in global health governance: Depoliticizing corporate philanthropy
The creation of the WHO Foundation during the COVID-19 pandemic represents a significant institutional development in the politics of financing the World Health Organization (WHO). In the context of longstanding acute financial pressures, the objective of the WHO Foundation is to widen WHO's resource base by attracting philanthropic donations from the commercial sector. In placing funding decisions 'at one remove' from WHO, the stated expectation…
Competing axes of power in the global plastics treaty: Understanding the politics of progress and setbacks in negotiating a high-ambition agreement
Headlines in December 2024 proclaimed the “collapse” and “failure” of United Nations plastics treaty negotiations in Busan, South Korea. This is, however, an overly simplistic and pessimistic portrayal. Progress on less contentious issues was made, and the meeting was adjourned with a commitment to continue negotiating in 2025 on the basis of the “Chair’s text.” Significantly, at the closing plenary, a majority of states voiced support for a “hig…
The Trojan Horse of Hybrid Governance: Corporate Power and Global Plastics Governance
This article examines the emergence of a hybrid institutional complex (HIC) in global plastics governance. By interrogating the structure, features, and contradictions of hybrid global plastics governance, we foreground the de facto orchestrator role of the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) that promotes multistakeholder partnerships to redress plastic pollution and to realise SDG 12 on Responsible Consumption and Production. However, we contend …
Preventing corporate capture: Democratic legitimacy and the global plastics treaty
Unpacking plastic credits: Challenges to effective and just global plastics governance
Corporate Power in a Multistakeholder World: Venue Hopping and the Multilevel Politics of Ultra‐Processed Food
The regulation of business is increasingly characterized by “soft” governance regimes that blur the boundaries of public and private authority, as signaled by the rapid proliferation of multistakeholder initiatives in global governance. This article explores how the spread of multistakeholderism creates opportunities for new forms of strategic action, enabling actors to participate in multiple fora, successively or simultaneously in order to purs…
Plastic Partnerships: How Corporations Are Hedging Against the UN Global Plastics Treaty
The global plastic crisis has intensified over the past decade, pressuring corporations to address their environmental impact. In response to a UN resolution to negotiate a treaty to end plastic pollution, corporate actors have reoriented their sustainability strategies. This forum article examines how companies across the petrochemical–plastics industry have adopted a “hedging strategy” to undermine stricter regulations, promoting industry-led m…
Protecting the right to science in multilateral environmental agreements addressing chemicals and plastics pollution
Scientific evidence supports dominant institutional understandings of the global socio-ecological crises of the triple planetary crisis-climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution-demonstrating the profound impacts of human activities on Earth systems. Pollution is intimately tied to these crises, through extractivism and production of chemicals, including plastics and poses serious threats to the environment and human rights. While science i…
Political science (22 works) · Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology (19 works) · Corporate governance (17 works) · Business (16 works) · Law (15 works) · Public health (14 works) · Economics (13 works) · Medicine (13 works) · Public Administration (13 works) · Public relations (13 works)