Intellectual property provisions and support for US trade agreements

Intellectual property rights are a key piece of the expanded trade agenda, and the United States has pushed hard to strengthen protections beyond WTO standards in its trade agreements. While agreement provisions governing intellectual property are commonly thought to be an important driver of corporate preferences over US trade policy, systematic empirical evidence for this proposition, especially in comparison to other determinants of trade policy, is generally lacking. To fill this void, this paper examines variation in reliance on intellectual property across US industries to explain attitudes and lobbying on US trade agreements. The effects of IP provisions on support for US trade agreements are politically substantial, though trade remains the primary determinant of preferences over trade agreements.     

On China’s Marine Safety

The rising incidence of Somalian and Malaccan piracy has sounded an alarm bell for countries around the world. In order to ensure the safety of global shipping lanes, at least in the short term, it is necessary for countries to unite to combat these pirates. However, dealing with pirate     

The World Intellectual Property Organisation and the Development Agenda

In this article the current political debates at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) relating to the proposed “development agenda” are set out and contextualised. Central to the proposal for the WIPO Development Agenda is the need to make the link to the United Nations (of which the WIPO is a Specialised Agency) actually mean something. Thus, at the centre of the WIPO Development Agenda is an engagement with the hitherto accepted mission of the organisation to “promote” intellectual property rights (IPRs). The article discusses the main components of the WIPO Development Agenda and the discussion to date regarding their adoption and modification by the WIPO.     

Transnational Information Politics: NGO Human Rights Reporting, 1986–2000

What shapes the transnational activist agenda? Do non-governmental organizations with a global mandate focus on the world's most pressing problems, or is their reporting also affected by additional considerations? To address these questions, we study the determinants of country reporting by an exemplary transnational actor, Amnesty International, during 1986–2000. We find that while human rights conditions are associated with the volume of their country reporting, other factors also matter, including previous reporting efforts, state power, U.S. military assistance, and a country's media profile. Drawing on interviews with Amnesty and Human Rights Watch staff, we interpret our findings as evidence of Amnesty International's social movement-style "information politics." The group produces more written work on some countries than others to maximize advocacy opportunities, shape international standards, promote greater awareness, and raise its profile. This approach has both strengths and weaknesses, which we consider after extending our analysis to other transnational sectors.     

Global Governance Reform

President Barack Obama has trumpeted a ＂new era of engagement＂ for the United States. The central components of his strategy include a world order characterized by peaceful accommodation between established and rising powers; the collective management of transnational problems; and the overhaul of international institutions to reflect these shifting power dynamics and the new global agenda. Placing less emphasis than his predecessor on the pursuit of American primacy, Obama envisions--indeed, insists-that other global powers assume new responsibilities. Notwithstanding its multilateral instincts, though, the Obama administration is limited in its practical ability to promote and embrace sweeping reforms to global governance. Therefore, rather than casting its lot entirely with universal organizations like the United Nations, the United States will adopt a pragmatic approach to international cooperation that combines formal institutions with more flexible partnerships to achieve US national interests. The balance sheet for Obama＇s first year in office underscores both the opportunities for and the constraints on global governance reform in the current geopolitical environment.     

Immigrant enfranchisement in Latin America: From strongmen to universal citizenship

In order to explain non-citizen enfranchisement in Latin America, this article takes into account three dimensions: domestic (citizenship tradition, immigration levels, internal politics), global (international and bilateral agreements, human rights discourse) and regional (common markets, diffusion, geopolitics). The article identifies two main modalities: from the early twentieth century to the 1980s, when democracy was not a necessary condition and when national factors prevailed. Starting in the 1990s, democratization in Latin America has brought a new wave of non-citizen enfranchisement, this time with more influence of global and regional factors and, in various cases, in connection with external voting rights.     

中国——东北亚国家之间的环境合作:状况分析与评价

中国—东北亚国家之间的环境合作包括众多方面,既有双边合作,又有多边合作。目前,这些多方面的环境合作已显现出很多绩效,如逐步启发与强化东北亚国家的“环境共同体”,以具体的积极的行动计划解决国际间的跨国环境矛盾和纠纷,促进东北亚各国环境产业和环境市场的发展等。但在东北亚国家的环境合作中,仍存在一些问题亟待解决。展望未来,东北亚国家间的环境合作将成为全球环境中具有高度积极意义的组成部分。     

马来西亚知识产权法在21世纪的新发展

进入21世纪以来,马来西亚知识产权制度在立法、执法与司法领域都出现了一些新的发展。从立法上来看,主要体现在加入国际条约、完善国内立法等方面;在执法上,成立了马来西亚知识产权公司,发布了国家知识产权新政策,同时加大打击盗版的力度;司法方面,成立专门的知识产权法院,同时在版权、专利权、商标权与外观设计亦出现了新的判例。     

越南知识产权法初论

越南知识产权立法尽管在整体上要落后于我国,但在发展的过程中越南的立法又有其自身的特点。本文拟通过对越南知识产权立法的简要介绍,希望能够对我国知识产权立法的完善有所助益。一、越南知识产权法发展概况“越南社会主义的立法历程大致可划分为三个阶段。第一个阶段是从越南宣布独立到1976年越南统一这一时期的立法。这一阶段是越南社会主义法从无到有的建立阶段。第二阶段是从越南统一至‘革新’前这一时期的立法。这一阶段是越南立法曲折发展的阶段。第三阶段是自越南实行‘革新’以来至今的立法,这一阶段是越南立法从逐步成熟到全面…     

美日住房权保障经验及对我国的启示

住房权是联合国规定的重要的公民权利,是基本人权。我国1997年签署并于2001年加入《经济、社会和文化权利国际公约》,承诺为实现公民的住房权而努力。而迄今为止,并没有制定一部有关住房权保障方面的法律,近年来由于房价的攀升和全国人大将《住房保障法》列为立法规划之一,引起学界对住房权、住房权保障问题的热议。美日两国的经验教训表明,公民住房权的实现,仅仅依据公民的自我努力是不够的,要使我国公民的住房权真正实现,就要借鉴发达国家的经验和教训,在承担国际义务的前提下根据我国的国情,将政府保障公民住房权的义务上升为法律义务,通过法律保障措施来明确国家责任、政府责任,只有将两者紧密结合,才能促进公民实现住房权。     

Transnational Networks and Policy Diffusion: The Case of Gender Mainstreaming

How can we account for the global diffusion of remarkably similar policy innovations across widely differing nation-states? In an era characterized by heightened globalization and increasingly radical state restructuring, this question has become especially acute. Scholars of international relations offer a number of theoretical explanations for the cross-national convergence of ideas, institutions, and interests. We examine the proliferation of state bureaucracies for gender mainstreaming. These organizations seek to integrate a gender-equality perspective across all areas of government policy. Although they so far have received scant attention outside of feminist policy circles, these mainstreaming bureaucracies—now in place in over 100 countries—represent a powerful challenge to business-as-usual politics and policymaking. As a policy innovation, the speed with which these institutional mechanisms have been adopted by the majority of national governments is unprecedented. We argue that transnational networks composed largely of nonstate actors (notably women's international nongovernmental organizations and the United Nations) have been the primary forces driving the diffusion of gender mainstreaming. In an event history analysis of 157 nation-states from 1975 to 1998, we assess how various national and transnational factors have affected the timing and the type of the institutional changes these states have made. Our findings support the claim that the diffusion of gender-mainstreaming mechanisms has been facilitated by the role played by transnational networks, in particular by the transnational feminist movement. Further, they suggest a major shift in the nature and the locus of global politics and national policymaking.     

Identity,Individualism, and Activism beyond the State: Examining the Impacts of Global Citizenship

The concept of global citizenship has risen to prominence through its use by policy makers, activists, and scholars, who employ the idea of global interconnectedness to encourage individuals to actively engage with transnational issues. Proponents of global citizenship claim that it will promote greater global unity and equality of rights, and even generate a new, post-national identity. Yet self-professed global citizens operate in a transnational realm marked by extreme disparities in power between the members of different states and economic classes. This article assesses whether global citizenship can live up to the claims of its adherents, or whether it will replicate the existing inequalities and moral hazard currently manifest in global policy-making. The article uses the work of T.H. Marshall to identify the conditions under which citizenship has generated equality and unity in the national realm and examines whether these conditions are present beyond the state. It then compares the resulting theory with global citizenship's observed impacts in transnational activism. It concludes that unity and equality of rights cannot be achieved globally in the absence of a commonly shared pool of social and economic resources and that, ironically, global citizenship may worsen existing power imbalances by legitimating elites' use of power.     

Do Democracies Attract Portfolio Investment? Transnational Portfolio Investments Modeled as Dynamic Network

For many, transnational capital is an important driving force of economic globalization. However, we know little about the political determinants for cross-border portfolio investments. Recent economic literature focuses upon information asymmetries. We move beyond this and introduce an explicitly political element into the study of international asset flows. Democratic institutions attract portfolio investments because they reduce the chances of government predatory practices. Applying a dynamic latent space model on the bilateral portfolio investment data from 2001 to 2005, we empirically examine the effects of important country-level characteristics of both exporters and importers of portfolio investments. The empirical findings suggest that democracies are often associated with higher levels of inward portfolio investments. Interestingly, we also find that portfolio investments are associated with business communities’ subjective estimate of property rights protection, but not with more comprehensive, index-based aggregate measures from international think tanks.     

俄罗斯加入WTO对中俄贸易的影响及对策

俄罗斯入世后,总体上有利于中俄贸易的健康发展,但也会给双边贸易带来新的挑战:中国商品在俄罗斯市场上将面临残酷的竞争;俄罗斯即将实施的进口农产品质量认证标准可能会把绝大多数中国农产品挡在俄罗斯市场之外;知识产权保护意识的增强将使中国引进俄罗斯高端技术的难度加大;俄罗斯将成为中国吸引外资强有力的竞争对手。因此,如何趋利避害,利用俄加入WTO的契机使中俄贸易迈上一个新的台阶,是中俄双方亟待解决的问题。     

越南加入WTO对该国汽车工业的影响及评介

汽车工业的发展状况是一个国家工业化程度的重要经济指标，对国家综合国力的提升发挥着极为重要的作用。从历史上看，在一个国家进入工业化中期阶段，到最后完成工业化和实现现代化，没有一个大国不是靠汽车工业的高速发展来完成这一过程的。加入WTO后，越南的汽车市场必须对外开放，那些汽车工业大国必然会选择时机进入越南市场，这无疑对越南幼小的汽车工业形成严重的冲击和威胁。     

The Tobin Tax: Another lost opportunity?

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has promoted the so-called `Tobin Tax' as a major mechanism for generating a substantial increase in global resources for tackling human-development priorities. Such a levy, on largely speculative and unproductive international transactions, may be capable of generating over US$300 billion per year: several times higher than existing levels of bilateral aid. However, given the muted dialogue at the 1995 World Summit for Social Development, and in order to secure the necessary support of leading developed countries and global financial institutions, it may be inevitable that the Tobin Tax, if adopted, would ultimately serve the interests of the wealthier economies. There is, therefore, an urgent need for the development sector to engage in debate about how, and how much of, such funds would be directed to priority human-development purposes.     

Compensatory Constitutionalisation: A Comparative Perspective

Legal scholars argue that there is an emerging global compensatory constitution. This denotes a set of compatible supranational and national institutions that fulfil functions hitherto fulfilled by national constitutions. Thus, de-constitutionalisation at the national level, which, as this strand of literature argues, has been brought about by forces such as globalisation, is compensated for. There are strong hints that such constitutionalisation takes place in a formal sense: there is an increasing number of norms which could be seen as elements of a new global constitutional order. But it is far from clear whether these norms make a difference. In this paper we ask whether states comply with this presumably new constitutional order. We distinguish between three types of rights which are granted by a constitution—political, economic and social rights. In this paper we focus on the economic and social components of the emerging global constitution, which have been neglected in previous research. We study compliance with International Labour Organization (ILO) and World Trade Organisation (WTO) norms. The ILO is the major source of a global social constitution; the WTO is the major source of a global economic constitution. We show that compliance is very uneven. Whilst formally a global constitution may be in the making, it makes little difference for citizens.     

东盟国家知识产权立法与管理的新发展

一、东盟国家知识产权制度的历史 东盟国家实行知识产权制度的历史可以追溯到殖民时代，尽管在过去人们并不认为商标或者版权是知识产权，而是将它们当作保护商业利益，特别是与西方世界加强联系的某种工具。以菲律宾为例，该国第一部知识产权法令是在1833年由西班牙殖民者引入的。     

从比较的视角看海外移民的流动性对中国的影响

在经济全球化发展日趋增强的今天,移民活动的状况或本质正越来越表现为流动性而非定居性。移民的流动性,是“人权高于主权”这一国际政治思潮的反映,是全球化发展所产生的一种“跨国逃避”趋势,也是国际政治经济多元化、不平衡发展和各国综合国力竞争的必然产物。本文试图通过对移民流动性的探讨,揭示中印两国海外移民的流动性对两国发展和综合国力提升所共同具有的有益影响,以及中印两国因其海外移民流动性在国际社会中所面临的不同处境。     

There’s no place like home: Explaining international NGO advocacy

INGO advocacy can range from cooperative to confrontational, and these tactical choices can have important repercussions for the overall success of the organization??s policy work, yet little attention has been paid to this variation. We contend that INGO advocacy strategies are shaped by the organization??s national origin. Drawing on insights from sociology and political science, we argue that there is substantial variation among wealthy industrialized democracies in the availability and structure of material resources as well as the domestic institutional environment surrounding INGO work. Together, these national-level factors shape INGOs?? choice of the level of confrontation or conciliation that they adopt in their advocacy. We first demonstrate the importance of INGO national origin using new data on the confrontational advocacy strategies of over 3000 non-governmental organizations from OECD countries that are international in focus. We then explore the relationship between national origin and INGO practice through comparative case studies of INGO umbrella organizations in the relief and development sector. Throughout, we focus on four countries in particular: the United States, Britain, France, and Japan. These countries differ significantly in terms of the material resources and institutional environments faced by INGOs and thus allow us to understand whether and how these factors influence INGO advocacy choices. These systematic differences in INGO strategies have important ramifications for understanding national and global advocacy by INGOs and demonstrate an enduring role of the state in shaping the behavior of non-state actors.