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Competing Norms and Norm Change: Intellectual Property Rights and Public Health in the World Trade Organization

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International Organization in the Anarchical Society

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in International Relations ((PSIR))

Abstract

The chapter develops the argument that change in the primary institution of trade comes about through political bargaining by reference to the WTO’s intellectual property rights agreement (TRIPS) and interpretations regarding public health in developing countries. The argument of the chapter is threefold: First, trade is shaped by a complex, rule-laden order based on different primary institutions. Second, changes in the trade institution take place through bargaining processes in a trade regime. Third, political bargaining in a regime may create new norms. However, new norms do not replace prevailing norms. Rather, political processes can initiate the emergence of new norms alongside older norms, changing the institution but also producing tensions and contradictions.

The author would like to thank Cornelia Navari for her encouragements, comments, and help during this project and Tonny Brems Knudsen for his suggestions on the draft of this essay.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For example, the Agreement on Implementation of Article 6 of GATT 1994 provides anti-dumping measures to protect production. Moreover, Article 20 of GATT justifies WTO member countries to use otherwise illegal subsidies if necessary to protect general moral, human, and animal life and health. Remarkably, these remedies and countervailing measures were originally made to protect production in developed countries (Qureshi 2006; Howse 2010).

  2. 2.

    Forum shopping reflects the fact that the most powerful country tries to avoid the limitations to its power imposed by a secondary institution and, by changing the context of negotiations, tries to impose its own objectives (Schaffer 2005, 133–5).

  3. 3.

    The amendment was a compromise and, therefore, received mixed responses. Both developing countries and NGOs criticized the decision as too bureaucratic because the export of drugs under a compulsory licence presumed a notification procedure to the WTO. On the other side, the IFPMA companies and the USA accepted the WTO General Council’s decision as a compromise and publicly supported it; but in other forums, such as in national politics (Canada) and bilateral politics, they campaigned against the General Council’s decision and tried to limit its application to Sub-Saharan countries (Abbott 2005; Morin and Gold 2010).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland

    Eero Palmujoki

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  1. Eero Palmujoki
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Tonny Brems Knudsen

  2. University of Buckingham, Buckingham, UK

    Cornelia Navari

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Palmujoki, E. (2019). Competing Norms and Norm Change: Intellectual Property Rights and Public Health in the World Trade Organization. In: Brems Knudsen, T., Navari, C. (eds) International Organization in the Anarchical Society. Palgrave Studies in International Relations. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71622-0_9

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