In the Name of Transparency: Organizing European Pharmaceutical Markets through Post-Political Struggles

CSO/AxPo joint seminar 

Susi Geiger on Friday, November 25, 2022 from 10:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m. in Salle Goguel (27 rue Saint-Guillaume) :
In the Name of Transparency: Organizing European Pharmaceutical Markets through Post-Political Struggles.

Susi Geiger is Professor of Marketing & Market Studies at the UCD Smurfit School of Business, Dublin, Ireland.

Discussion by: Etienne Nouguez, Centre for the Sociology of Organisations (CSO), Sciences Po

When: Friday 25 November 2022, 10:00-12:00 (Paris time)

Location: Salle Goguel, 27 rue Saint-Guillaume, 75007 Paris
There will also be a Zoom option to enable a hybrid seminar. Registration required.
Registration required at the link below: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/11xfEHPsxdzP4MJi98sKwaNMTitIJlqHvlJz6VCKYUBo/edit?pli=1

Abstract:

The controversies surrounding the heavily redacted contracts between the European Commission and COVID-19 vaccine producers have highlighted ‘transparency’ as a hotly debated concept in the European pharmaceutical market.

In this presentation, we show that the intersection between the pharmaceutical market and concerns about affordable medicines has come to depend on variable meanings of the notion of transparency, as mobilized by diverse market organizers. While being a guiding principle behind the construction of the European pharmaceutical sector, market transparency was implemented through devices that enacted specific definitions of transparency and thus produced distinct market organizations over time.

We identify three visions of transparency that became translated into distinct organizational arrangements of the pharmaceutical market: transparency for states (until 1990), transparency for corporations (1990-2010), and transparency for state coalitions (since 2010). Our article sheds light on how struggles over the definition of transparency play a crucial role in the organization of markets.

We also discuss why engaging in such controversies has become increasingly important for those contesting the market status quo in a post-political context, emphasizing the ‘not-so-post-political’ potential of these debates.

Contact: samia.ben@sciencespo.fr