# CIVICVS Foundation Document

## Document ID

CFD-COI-2021-PFIZER-WEF-JSMITH

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## Title

Conflict of Interest: Jim Smith (Pfizer Board / WEF “Partnering Against Corruption Initiative”)

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## Category

**Foundation Exemplar** — Conflict of Interest (COI) as Civic Artifact

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## Purpose

To establish **conflict of interest** as a civic artifact category. Conflicts of interest are **naturally immutable evidence**, derived from institutional permanence (board memberships, corporate filings, governance records).

This document formalizes how CIVICVS records and evaluates COIs: as structural overlaps that compromise ethical protocols of independence and accountability.

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## Case Description

Jim Smith, a member of the Board of Directors at Pfizer, was simultaneously listed as serving on the World Economic Forum’s *Partnering Against Corruption Initiative*.

* **Tier-1 (Immutable by Origin):** Corporate filings (Pfizer SEC documents), WEF membership lists, official biographies.
* **Tier-2 (Constructed Immutable Evidence):** Archival preservation (Internet Archive, IPFS) for redundancy.

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## Known Immutable Processes & Records

* Corporate governance filings (Pfizer Board of Directors).
* WEF organizational membership rosters.
* Press releases and official biographies.

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## Analyst Notes

* **Civic Significance:**

  * Conflicts of interest explain *why* certain narratives emerge and persist.
  * They are often ignored or minimized by journalism despite their centrality.
* **Civic Risk:**

  * When COIs are downplayed, institutional credibility collapses.
* **Civic Value:**

  * Because these artifacts are immutable by origin, they form **primary evidence** of influence operations.

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## Civic Consequence

This case establishes **Conflict of Interest** as a **primary CIVICVS category**. Such artifacts require elevation, not as background context but as central civic evidence.

By foregrounding immutable COIs, analysts restore ethics over morality, showing structural power overlaps as civic facts.

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✅ **Status:** Foundation Document filed.
**Category Established:** Conflict of Interest (COI).