Neoliberalism, State-Corporate Power and Regulatory Failure: The Harms of Prescription and Non-Prescription Medicine Regulation in Australia

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.

Rhiannon Bandiera is a Lecturer in Criminology and Co-Director of the Research Centre in International Justice at the School of Law and Criminology, Maynooth University. She specialises in state-corporate, state and transnational crime and (social) harm and regulation, publishing on a variety of topics, including pharmaceutical (prescription and non-prescription) crime/harm.