This conference addressed the politics of medicine, of health and of bodies in relation to contemporary political systems. It was concerned in particular with:

• the ethical and political consequences of changing technologies of life and death
• the consequences of the privatisation of health care, the body and its parts
• the global inequalities of life expectancy and health and the consequences of this inequality
• the ethical responsibilities of medical professionals
• the relationship between corporate pharmaceuticals and medical provision.

Call for papers

The conference thus investigated the body politic in terms of the differential distribution of rights, responsibilities and powers that directly affect the bodies of the citizens and non-citizens of the new global order. Papers were invited on these topics:

• Health and the Body Politic
• Whose Life, Whose Death?
• Bodies, Rights and the Body Politic
• Genetic Politics
• Public or Private?
• The Postcode Lottery
• The Global Politics of Health
• Corporate Pharmaceuticals and Justice
• Medical Responsibility in Genocide and Terror
• Medicine and the Politics of Gender
• Insurance, Medicine and Politics

Keynote speakers

• Donna Dickenson (Birkbeck)
• Conor Gearty (LSE)
• John Harris (Manchester)
• Alyson Pollock (Edinburgh)
• Helen Smith (Brighton and Sussex Medical School)
• Rosemary Stamp (EURO RSCG RILEY)