The modified issue: Turning around parliaments, politics as usual and how to extend issue-politics with a little help from Max Weber.

Ordinary political institutions such as parliaments remain under-explored in Science and Technology Studies (STS) and the conceptual resources for studying politics are far less developed than for science. But sites like parliaments are far more interesting than are their received images. This article argues that novel re-combinations of the issue-literature in STS and the works on parliament and objectivity by the German scholar Max Weber can provide us with analytical resources for grasping parliamentary politics with new lenses. In fact, reading Weber in light of the issue-literature provides for a better understanding of his work, and points towards how Weber's accounts are crucially about parliamentary politics as work - on and with issues and the matters at hand. In addition, Weber may improve STS's accounts of politics by his way of including the ordered and procedural side to issue-politics: Issue-politics is both about 'opening up' an issue as well as coming to decisions and take action. The article underlines this by discussing an often-misread part of Weber's work, namely his work on objectivity and points to how political procedure was a key inspiration to his understanding and developing of this notion.

Less Is More: Norwegian Drug Regulation, Antibiotic Policy, and the "Need Clause".

Policy Points The current crisis of antibiotic resistance calls for policy reforms locally and globally. Historical insight in different regulatory systems can inform current decision making. A strong regulatory control implementing antimicrobial resistance concerns can ensure the combined objective of promoting access and limiting excess use by letting only certain drugs onto the market in compliance with public health needs. Regulation at this level also has powerful effects on consumption and needs to be considered as a tool for curbing antibiotic resistance. The Norwegian drug regulatory procedures was an example of how national drug regulatory authorities can promote innovation of new drugs that meet public health needs indirectly by accepting only drugs of added therapeutic value. CONTEXT: Antibiotic resistance is an increasingly serious threat to global health that requires coordinated action. Most current policy efforts address the lack of medicines. There is also a need for new thinking on promoting access to all who are in need of antibiotics, while simultaneously curbing inappropriate use. As the situation calls for new approaches, we examined one drug regulatory system in which antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been on the agenda for a long time. The Norwegian drug regulatory system, and particularly its "need clause," has been invoked in international debates but not previously studied in detail. METHODS: We conducted a historical review of the Norwegian drug regulatory system by examining the archives of the Norwegian health authorities, the Norwegian Medicines Agency, and policy debates in the period. FINDINGS: The Norwegian drug regulatory system focused on the rational use of drugs, tied closely to public health needs. It was originally written to address unnecessary consumption of drugs, not consumer protection and safety. The most flexible element within this system stated that a drug must be "needed" in order to be registered. When antibiotic resistance became a concern, it limited the market entry of drugs considered to promote resistance, such as combination and broad-spectrum products. This was a powerful and flexible regulatory device that also influenced drug consumption. CONCLUSIONS: The need clause has lately been promoted as an alternative to address the current situation. The solutions to the problem of antibiotic resistance cannot be the same everywhere, and we do not argue that this drug regulatory system should be adopted globally. However, the current situation calls for consideration of many different aspects. This historical case demonstrates how regulatory procedures can be used to limit market entrance and promote appropriate use simultaneously.

History Teaches Us That Confronting Antibiotic Resistance Requires Stronger Global Collective Action.

Antibiotic development and usage, and antibiotic resistance in particular, are today considered global concerns, simultaneously mandating local and global perspectives and actions. Yet such global considerations have not always been part of antibiotic policy formation, and those who attempt to formulate a globally coordinated response to antibiotic resistance will need to confront a history of heterogeneous, often uncoordinated, and at times conflicting reform efforts, whose legacies remain apparent today. Historical analysis permits us to highlight such entrenched trends and processes, helping to frame contemporary efforts to improve access, conservation and innovation.