Overview
- Interdisciplinary crosses law, sociology, economics and public health
- Strong international appeal
- Innovative use of ActorNetwork Theory, a methodology much of interest to academics and researchers
- Part of the Palgrave Macmillan SocioLegal Studies series
Part of the book series: Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies (PSLS)
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
Pills for the Poorest offers a new perspective on the much-debated issue of the links between intellectual property and access to medication. Using ethnographic case studies in Djibouti and Ghana, and insights from actor-network theory, it explores the ways in which TRIPs and pharmaceutical patents are translated in the daily practices of those who purchase, distribute, and use (or fail to use) medicines in sub-Saharan Africa. It suggests that focusing on routine practices and the material deployment of intellectual property significantly enriches our understanding of the complex dynamics that animate the field of access to medicines and helps relocate the role of law within those processes. It demonstrates how intellectual property affects access to medicines in ways that are often discreet, indirect and forgotten. By exploring these complex mechanisms, it seeks to ask questions about the modes of actions of pharmaceutical patents, but also, more generally, about the complexity of legal objects.
Reviews
Cloatre's book is an insightful and valuable addition to not just socio-legal studies, but also the broader literature on pharmaceuticals and the social implications of global trade. Pills for the Poorest demonstrates why and how methodological innovation beyond traditional and even socio-legal ways of thinking about law remains essential. Such innovation can help to reveal blindspots in our understanding of law's production by and within, and interaction with, the social and political, and in doing so it serves to highlight that law is neither determinate nor reducible to those or indeed other things, but is rather part of a complex web.' - Mark Flear, School of Law, Queen's University Belfast
'Although the book is slim, its contribution is weighty, timely, and convincing.' - Socio Legal Studies, December 2014
In an area...with such extensive literature, it is refreshing to find a different approach taken to understanding the problem and its processes. An approach which has not been selected merely for its novelty, but applied in a meaningful and justified way, with its appropriateness clearly outlined in the book's introduction.' - Journal of Law and Society, November 2014
'Pills for the Poorest is a fascinating book.' - New Genetics and Society, July 2014
"As a text itself, the book has potential to reshape the thinking of readers from a wide range of fields, from law, science studies, healthcare policy, and beyond." - Review by Laura Stark of the New Books Network
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Pills for the Poorest
Book Subtitle: An Exploration of TRIPS and Access to Medication in Sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Emilie Cloatre
Series Title: Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-31327-0
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan London
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social Sciences Collection, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: Macmillan Publishers Limited 2013
Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-230-28284-1Published: 06 August 2013
eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-31327-0Published: 06 August 2013
Series ISSN: 2947-9274
Series E-ISSN: 2947-9282
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XII, 204
Topics: Theories of Law, Philosophy of Law, Legal History, Socio-legal Studies, Science and Technology Studies, Medical Sociology, Medical Anthropology