Opposing Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights and Dependency: Back to the Future?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Few publications have related issues raised by the globalization of intellectual property legislation to the broader movement against economic globalization, or sought to situate such concerns within a theoretical framework. This paper illustrates unifying critiques among networks within the movement and applies a historical structuralist framework on the emerging global intellectual property rights regime in the area of medicinal and agricultural plants. The analysis highlights contemporary processes that might repeat colonial patterns of economic exploitation and underdevelopment. Ways in which anti-globalization networks have addressed concerns at the global and local level are illustrated. A new research agenda that would document and assess such alternatives is proposed.