Abstract
This thesis examines the evolution of the animal rights movement and its impact on the pharmaceutical research community. It explores the methods used by animal rights activists and the development of its tactics. It considers the approaches adopted by the research community and presents an analysis of their behaviours and processes applied.The research and analysis of the results is based on semi-structured interviews achieving saturation with 20 participants from within the community. The greatest challenge to this research has been gaining access to a closed practitioner community through the necessary development of specific networks and gatekeepers. This research has been the first to gain access to this community. Those engaged are drawn from universities, contract research organisations (CROs), equipment manufacturers, and strategic security advisers.
The research identified organisations within this community as operating in three distinct ways in their responses to the animal rights movement. These have been defined as: passenger; pilot;and engineer. The findings highlight that the guidance available provided no specific instruction with regard to the threat presented by the animal rights movement. The data shows that the primary targets are CROs and Equipment Manufactures, who have generally acted in a reactive way, and are denominated as pilots.
The university sector has generally received limited attention and security strategists have experienced no actual attacks. Both groups are considered ineffective in their approach and identified as passengers.
Date of Award | Jul 2014 |
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Original language | English |
Awarding Institution |
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Supervisor | Alison Wakefield (Supervisor) & Mark Button (Supervisor) |