Trips and Pharmaceutical Patents in Djibouti: an ANT Analysis of Socio-Legal Objects
| Author | Emilie Cloatre |
| Date | 01 June 2008 |
| Published date | 01 June 2008 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0964663908090882 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
TRIPS AND PHARMACEUTICAL
PATENTS IN DJIBOUTI: AN
ANT ANALYSIS OF
SOCIO-LEGAL OBJECTS
EMILIE CLOATRE
University of Nottingham, UK
ABSTRACT
This article discusses the complexity inherent in the relationship between written law
and social action. It uses actor-network theory (‘ANT’) to amplify this complexity and
considers its value both in understanding socio-legal objects and, more broadly, to
socio-legal studies itself. The article uses a case study of the role of the Trade Related
Intellectual Property agreement (‘TRIPS’) regarding pharmaceutical patents in a ‘least
developed country’, Djibouti. The study uses this pharmaceutical example to argue the
insights offered by ANT, conceptualizing socio-legal objects, beyond comparable
approaches such as implementation studies. It also offers a different, more compelling
set of understandings than that which appears in the more standard texts on TRIPS.
KEY WORDS
actor-network theory; development; methodology; pharmaceutical patents; TRIPS
INTRODUCTION
THIS ARTICLE PRESENTS an empirical case study of the impact of the Trade
Related Intellectual Property agreement (TRIPS) and pharmaceutical
patents on health. This study, carried out in the Republic of Djibouti
during 2004, also illustrates the potential relevance and limits of actor-network
theory (ANT) as a method to study the action of socio-legal objects – under-
stood as objects with a legal origin/dimension studied in their social action,
through networks and connections, as exemplified throughout the article.1
SOCIAL &LEGAL STUDIES Copyright © 2008 SAGE Publications
Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore, www.sagepublications.com
0964 6639, Vol. 17(2), 263–281
DOI: 10.1177/0964663908090882
This inquiry is situated within an academic debate that has remained essen-
tially doctrinal (Nogues, 1993; Rozek and Berkowitz, 1998; Correa, 2000;
Otten, 2000; Velasquez, 2000). This example focuses on a type of country
seldom studied and illustrates the complex linkages between the written
creation of legal objects and their action in various networks. Although
ANT remains rarely used in socio-legal research, it appeared relevant to this
particular case study for several reasons. First, the research undertaken was
in itself quite closely related to some aspects of science and technology
studies (STS), from which ANT originated. Disease, drugs and pharmaceuti-
cal research are all areas discussed in STS (including early ANT writings;
(Latour, 1979, 1987, 1993) and in the area of pharmaceutical patents. This
explains how, in terms of research process and rationale, ANT appeared as
beneficial to understanding some of the dynamics occurring in this field. At
the same time, and although ANT is gaining prominence in socio-legal studies
(Tully, 2006), its potential relevance to this field still needs to be tested, proven,
and potentially improved. This case study appeared a feasible and appro-
priate opportunity to do so. As well as its thematic links with prior ANT
writings, the case study features a relatively small network, compatible with
the ethnographic approach that ANT requires.
The article begins by explaining key concepts and methods used in this
research; the case study is then located within existing debates on TRIPS and
pharmaceuticals; two key aspects of findings are introduced and discussed:
the contrast between expectation and action of TRIPS and the action of
pharmaceutical patents in Djibouti despite their lack of official existence.
Finally, the article discusses the benefits and limits of ANT when applied to
socio-legal analysis.
SOME KEY CONCEPTS OF ACTOR-NETWORK THEORY
ANT was developed in STS, to analyse how technologies work in society
(Latour, 1993). It stresses the need to understand associations, connections
and networks in order to seize the modes of action of relevant objects. It also
shifts the focus of social analysis from humans to a broader range of actors
and allows various types of non-human objects to be brought to the centre
of social analysis.
ANT challenges other sociological approaches by substituting the stable
idea of ‘society’ with the existence of a multiplicity of social orderings gener-
ated by sets of mobile associations (Latour, 2005). It stresses the need to
consider how sets of fluid relationships create order and power by their exist-
ence and interdependence, while constantly shaping any object of enquiry
(Law, 1992). The very notion of ‘actor-network’, understood as ‘the summing
up of interactions through various kinds of devices, inscriptions, forms etc,
into a very local, very practical, very tiny locus’ (Latour, 1999: 16), reflects
the idea that any entity needs to be understood as the complementarity of
sets of connections, as multi-dimensional and likely to be modified if any
connection is challenged.
264 SOCIAL & LEGAL STUDIES 17(2)
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