Rökfritt EU? En studie av införandet av rökfria serveringar i vissa EU-länder ur ett politikkonvergensperspektiv.

Sammanfattning: In this thesis, the introduction of smoke-free restaurants and bars in several EU Member States in a policy convergence perspective is studied. The thesis sets out to explain whether policy convergence has occurred and the possible explanations connected with it. It is stated that 15 out of 25 EU Member States had introduced or decided to introduce smoke-free restaurants and bars up to April, 2006. Out of all the countries in the world, 35, including the EU Member States, had introduced or decided to introduce smoke-free restaurants and bars. The result is analysed by using policy convergence theory and by putting the case in a global environment where tobacco control has become an ever more central theme for public health policy. The EU Member States are different in several ways considered to be important factors for policy convergence, such as cultural, institutional and socio-economic similarities, and the conclusion is made that EU membership has been a most crucial factor for the rapidity of the policy diffusion. A limited, however tangible, convergence has occurred. The EU institutions have no formal competence on the policy area in question. Instead, transnational communication from the European Commission and the governments of the Member States has been the means through which the influence has come.