Neoliberalism, State-Corporate Power and Regulatory Failure: The Harms of Prescription and Non-Prescription Medicine Regulation in Australia(Routledge Studies in Crime and Society)

Based on over a decade of research, this book examines the social harms of Australian prescription and non-prescription medicine regulation and how these ultimately stem from neoliberalism and its reinforcement of state and corporate power. Neoliberalism shapes state and corporate power, regulation and the harms resulting from regulatory failure, yet the links between these themes are rarely discussed. Drawing on the concept of hegemonic neoliberal governmentality, this book critically examines Australian medicine regulation and the harms resulting from its failure in areas such as medicine quality, safety and efficacy; direct-to-consumer advertising; and marketing directed at health professionals. It traces these harms through the colonial foundations and evolution of medicine regulation in Australia, exploring both regulatory failure and the attempts at reforming this regulatory system. It argues that neoliberalism is not regulatable and reinforces and sustains itself, empowering the state and corporations while disempowering the public and those representing its interests. Thus, reducing its harms is only achievable through broader, transformative change, rather than by reforming (and thereby continuing to work within) the existing neoliberal capitalist system. Neoliberalism, State-Corporate Power and Regulatory Failure will be of value to practitioners, members of the public and private sector and academics active in the fields of state, corporate and state–corporate crime, social harm and regulation, as well as to those new to the study of medicine-related harms. It will also be of interest to all those concerned about their health and the medicines they use.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction 2. Historical Foundations of The Medicines Regulatory Regime 3. Overview of The Medicine Regulatory Regime 4. Regulatory Disempowerment 5. Public Disempowerment 6. The Regime ‘Reformed’ 7. Conclusion

About the Author :
Rhiannon Bandiera is Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Criminology at the School of Law and Criminology, Maynooth University—National University of Ireland Maynooth, Maynooth, Co Kildare, Ireland. She specialises in state–corporate crime and social harm, regulation, and their transnational dimensions.

Review :
Anchored to rigorous research and careful evidence-based analysis, Rhiannon Bandiera’s assessment of prescription and non-prescription medicines regulation in Australia is as unflinching as it is compelling. Over the course of this book, she shows how and why existing regulatory approaches, built on a neoliberal foundation that is hard-wired to serve the economic self-interest of the pharmaceutical industry, have progressively disempowered both regulators and the public. Bandiera’s bold prescription for a radical re-think of how to put health at the centre of pharmaceutical regulation is a vital contribution that could not come at a better time. For scholars and public policy experts across the globe, this book will be an invaluable source of fresh ideas on how to embed the public interest in a broad range of regulatory regimes. Jennifer Quaid, Associate Professor, Civil Law Section, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, Canada This book brilliantly exposes how the failure of regulation in Australia’s medicines regulatory regime is undeniably bound up with neoliberal obsessions with “risk-based” and “responsive” regulation. The new forms of regulation have not been able to protect the public and rather have led to “regulatory disempowerment” of a regime that enables profit to triumph over people. The regulatory regime that has been consolidated during a period that Rhiannon Bandeira sharply describes as hegemonic governmentality is one in which the public interest might prevail on rare occasions, but only if this does not compromise the interests of the industry. A familiar story, yes, but one that we need detailed politically nuanced stories to instruct us. And the sophisticated critique of power that we find in this book is urgently needed in this age. If we are living through a period of wild conspiracy theories about Big Pharma, this book provides the antidote; one that presents a reasoned critique of vested interests, but does not hold back on pointing the finger at the state and the pharmaceutical industry. Rejecting the conceptual red herring of neo-liberal versions of ‘better regulation’ the book powerfully calls for a wider program of social transformation to reduce the harms of both medicines and regulatory failures. David Whyte, Professor of Climate Justice and Director of the Centre for Climate Crime and Climate Justice, Queen Mary University of London Rhiannon Bandiera’s book makes an important contribution to the field of state-corporate crime. By examining the intricate dynamics of neoliberalism in the everyday regulation of medicines, readers will no longer be content with solutions based primarily on individual and public empowerment. A highly recommended book for those seeking new solutions. Garry C. Gray, Associate Professor of Criminology and Sociology, University of Victoria, Canada This outstanding achievement significantly develops our understanding of ‘neo-liberalism’ via an impressively bold theoretical sophistication through which to view regulation, states and corporations. Its empirically rich focus on medicines reminds us that state-corporate power reaches into our bodies - and cannot be challenged through law but via socially transformative change. Steve Tombs, Emeritus Professor of Criminology, The Open University We tend to believe that public authorities work in the best interest of the public. Unfortunately, the stream of research on state-corporate crime documents that public authorities create rather than prevent convenient opportunity structures for deviant behavior, misconduct, and crime. The book by Rhiannon Bandiera is an important contribution to this stream of research. Petter Gottschalk, Professor, Department of Leadership and Organizational Behavior, BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo, Norway