Embedding neoliberalism : global health and the evolution of the global intellectual property regime (1995-2009)
How can global economic regimes be "embedded" to become more equitable, inclusive and responsive to social concerns -- particularly those of developing countries? 'Ibis thesis explores this policy question through a case study of the evolution of the global intellectual property regime as it relates to pharmaceuticals ("the global IP regime") from 1994-2009. Encapsulated in the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, the global IP regime of the 1990s required developing countries to grant stringent patent monopolies on medicines, however, the regime has since evolved to afford substantively greater policy space for developing countries to take into account public health needs. How did this regime change come about? Beginning around 1995, a small set of developing country governments, civil society organizations, and experts succeeded in de-stabilizing the legitimacy -- and thereby the authority -- of the IP regime by problematizing and beginning to re-frame IP rules as a social issue. This re-framing attracted new actors and resources, facilitating further re-framing and the shift of IP debates into new institutional arenas, such as the World Health Assembly
Thesis, Dissertation, English, 2010