Dominant power & lethal injection procurement

Back in 2013 I discussed the problems Texas was facing with its death penalty regime due to a supplier no longer wanting to supply. Today there are reports that there are no longer any legal supplies of the drugs at all in USA, after Pfzer, the last remaining supplier, decided to cut supply.

This is a remarkable example of how dominant power impacts on procurement.  While few would doubt the USA has massive buyer power collectively over markets, in this case, the USA have discovered that dominant power can also be with the supplier.

Like yesterday's posting, on Archaeologists, this is another clear example of a bottleneck item. It is also an interesting example of the difficulties which can be faced in finding substitutes.