国際政治におけるグローバル・イシューと企業 : 知的財産権保護と医薬品アクセス
スポンサーリンク
概要
- 論文の詳細を見る
In an era of economically globalizing international relations, it is said that globalization transfers the location of governance from nation-states laterally to such private actors as nongovernmental organizations (NGO) and multinational firms as well as vertically to local governments and supranational organizations. However, compared to the existing studies paying much attentions to the activities of NGOs, there are not many studies which focus on the influence of firms on international politics. The purpose of this article is to clarify how the competitions among firms affect a problem of global issue by examining the case of problem of intellectual property rights and public health.The TRIPS agreement of 1995 was criticized by developing countries and NGOs whose concerns were on development for preventing access to medicines in developing countries, because intellectual property rights on pharmaceutical products raise the price of essential medicines in developing countries. On the other hand, developed countries and research-based advanced pharmaceutical companies insisted the importance of intellectual property rights in stimulating an invention and creation of new drugs. While most of existing literature on the topic of TRIPS and access to medicines examines the important role of NGOs in providing the norm of public health in negotiation of TRIPS agreement, this study shows why most of least developed countries implemented the TRIPS agreement despite the warning of NGOs not to implement earlier for the sake of access to medicines. In order to understand the positive attitude of least developed countries towards the TRIPS agreement, we have to examine how the constellation of pharmaceutical firms capacities in developing countries affect the implementation of TRIPS. Not only the role of research-based pharmaceutical firms but also the existence and different capacities of generic pharmaceutical companies in developing companies are important elements of state policy toward the TRIPS agreement.Firms are increasingly related to global issues such as environment, food supply and human rights in todays international relations. More studies focusing on firms are needed to better understand the political economy of global issues.
- 財団法人 日本国際政治学会の論文