An Examination of the Nature and Effects of TRIPs/WTO Agreement

It is almost two decades since Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) have legally gone global. The WTO’s agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, or TRIPs/WTO for short, is one of the most effective international regimes in the modern global political economy. The Agreement’s effect on the economy of member states has been central to the existing studies, though the politico-legal implications of TRIPs has occasionally been discussed, too. This book finds-out that the TRIPs Agreement is one of the principal neo-liberal disciplinary techniques of power and any examination of its effects needs to transcend orthodox conceptions of power. To do so, the book employs a Foucauldian conception of power as developed by Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben. The study finds that the effectiveness of TRIPs rests in its potential (possibility) to be exercised rather than in its actual (factual) exercise. The book, therefore, subjects the TRIPs agreement to a Foucauldian critique by examining the effects of power on nation-states, TNCs, and individuals - with particular focus on technology transfer, FDI, and public health.