The politics of endemic
diseases of cattle
Some research approaches from
political science
A very fortunate cow
Bovine TB: policy failure?
• Extensive files in National Archives up
to 1992
• A very difficult issue for ministers and
civil servants
• Referred up to prime minister
• Ministers only saw damage to their
political reputations – hostile media
Some policy strategies
• External reports, some of which caused
even more trouble
• Constructions of reality – the rogue
badger
• Folkington Bowl incident
• Resort to stakeholder forums to
reconcile divergent interests – inside
tent
Current situation
• Reactor numbers increasing
• Impacting on relationship between
farmers and government and
development of animal health strategy
• Disagreement about evidence base
• Policy experiment in Wales
• Become a partisan issue
The cultural politics of Brock
Animal welfare issues
• Mentioned as important unprompted at
maximum by 2 per cent of voters,
prompts can push up to 6-7 per cent
• Well organised and funded stakeholder
groups represent intensity of feeling
• Willingness to resort to direct action
• Highly emotional
Political diseases model
• Which diseases acquire political
salience and why?
• Varies over time and by country
• Model in development and applied to
endemic diseases of cattle in UK and
Australia
• Initial list produced by discussion within
team
Five groups of factors
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Links with human health
Political factors (5)
Management factors (6)
International effects (3)
Political factors
• Level of public/media awareness of
disease
• Position of key industry stakeholder
groups
• Position of animal welfare groups
• Does controlling the disease involve an
animal living in the wild? (NB: ferals)
• International animal health reputation
UK-Australia differentiators
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Importance of agricultural trade
Pride in Australia’s reputation
Policy innovation – biosecurity
Historic experience of exotic incursions
Awareness of fragility of ecology
Much of this relates to exotics
Bovine Johnes’ disease
• Quite extensive programmes in
Australia
• Inter-state tensions
• Concerns about trade impacts
• But above all concern about the
reported but unproven association
between BJD and Crohn’s disease
More work to be done
• Weighting of factors, but zoonosis
status is important
• Running model against different
diseases to make comparisons and also
between UK and Australia
• Further work on stakeholder groups and
policy, role of state vets
• Thanks to Defra Animal Welfare Team
Some questions
• Is there a useful political science contribution
to the study of endemic diseases of cattle?
• Why are some diseases more politically
salient than others?
• http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/gld
• http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/staff/g
rant