University of East Anglia

Graduate Student, School of Environmental Sciences

Thesis Title: Privileged actors in environmental policymaking: a case study of the UK aviation industry

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Through an examination of the aviation industry in the UK my thesis analyses whether, and if so how and why, certain actors are systematically privileged in environmental policymaking.  It is claimed in both the scientific and non-scientific spheres that historically this industry occupies such a position, manifest in securing planning permission for new runways and terminals, tax breaks for fuel and delayed exclusion from climate change targets.  However the existing literature does not adequately empiricise or explain the precise mechanisms for this pattern.  This thesis therefore focuses on the role of the UK state in arbitrating between rival interests in the historical development of the UK air industry, within a European and international context.

Two contrasting contemporary political theories are employed to guide the analysis: the Advocacy Coalition Framework which maintains that policy change arises primarily from the competition between rival groups to adjust to external events; and the Strategic-Relational Approach which acknowledges the importance of structural imperatives on the state to consistently favour some actors (i.e. business) over others.  To date, most research on the development of the aviation industry has not adopted a long-term perspective and has either eschewed conscious theory testing, or adopted only one of these two perspectives. 

My thesis addresses these gaps by undertaking an historical examination of two major decisions fundamental in the development of the UK aviation industry: the decision to develop Stansted as the third London airport (1953-1991) and the approval for a second runway at Manchester (1991-2001).  The former was characterised by delays and reviews; the latter was the first runway to be approved in the UK in over twenty years and occurred much more rapidly.  Details of the two cases are revealed through fresh documentary analysis and elite interviewing and then analysed through the application of the two theories.

This research shows that the actions of actors, motivated by their beliefs to achieve policy goals, are both inhibited and facilitated by structural circumstances.  The role of the state in environmental policymaking is to balance a multitude of interests however this research has shown that it emerges as weak against economic interests.  Those actors who support, and are seen as essential in the reproduction of, capital are able to occupy a position of privilege. 

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