(Il)legitimacy of international intellectual property regime?

The recent Covid-19 global health crisis not only brings into sharp relief the current problems afflicting the international intellectual property regime (IIPR) but also calls into question its legitimacy as an international authority. Against this backdrop, the article aims to launch an investigation into the legitimacy of the IIPR, as an international co-ordinative authority, designed to protect IP rights without prejudice to international trade norms. Drawing on Raz's service conception of authority, it explores whether the IIPR lives up to its promises by enabling co-ordination between states over IP rights without undermining the initial balance on which it is founded, struck between developing and developed countries, as well as between international protection of IP- cum-trade rights and domestic regulatory autonomy. It does so by classifying the historical evolution of the IIPR under three different phases: (i) its foundation, (ii) before, and (iii) after the TRIPS-plus. Upon showing the legitimacy challenges inherent in its undemocratic foundation, the article points to the success of the regime in finding a balance between conflicting interests before the TRIPS-plus era. Later, it underlines the many challenges that come with linking the IIPR to the investment regime and argues that the FTAs and frequent regime-shifting activities put further pressure on the authority and legitimacy of the regime. Stressing the importance of democratic participation for the legitimacy of any co-ordinative authority, the article casts doubt on the IIPR's legitimacy and concludes by raising some points to overcome the ongoing legitimacy challenges.

The International Decarbonization Regime as a Tool for Implementing Risk Society Values

"The coronavirus pandemic has actualised the ""Global Risk Society"" concept. The purpose of this article is to examine the emergence of an international decarbonisation regime in terms of the values of the ""global risk society"" as updated by the coronavirus pandemic. Under the conditions of ""new normality"", new values that determine the sociopolitical development of society are taking shape. Relying on the ""Global Risk Society"" theory, the authors derive its emerging values, the emergence of which is associated with the pandemic and its socio-economic effects. Thus, new values include the abandonment of faith in progress and a focus on crisis management (resilience), global solidarity as a key condition for survival, the search for a balance between freedom and security, effective response and regulation, ""open innovation"" as part of the ""global commons"", rethinking of the value of consumption, and finally, the value of the climate agenda as a global green imperative comes to the fore. These values are of importance for a global climate agenda as well, which has become more acute during the pandemic. A key actor here is the European Union, which, through its policy of normative power and environmental ethics, is shaping a new international decarbonisation regime as an instrument for realising these values. And this ""new ethic"" has no national boundaries. Such international regime aims to create a regulatory framework for responding to climate risks that has the potential to profoundly affect global development and lead to a fundamentally new international climate order."

Colombia's accession to the OECD as a strategy for insertion in an unfavorable context

This paper concerns the study of Colombian foreign policy. Specifically, it applies foreign policy analysis (FPA) methods to the study of Colombian international politics and international relations. Embarking from the analytical framework of International Regimes, the work describes a specific approach to their study, and thereafter traces the process that preceded Colombia's accession to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It analyzes how the decision to join the OECD is best understood as a foreign policy strategy on the part of the national government. The paper also offers a preliminary evaluation of the process of institutional adaptation accompanying OECD membership and its impact on Colombian society. The article is based on the analysis of primary sources related to the decision-making process carried out by both the national government and the OECD. Additionally, it uses a variety of other sources to illuminate a foreign policy strategy implemented in a complicated international context, one only made more difficult by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. In this manner, the paper discusses the challenges and importance of OECD membership, including the delay of its formalization to the point of coinciding with the Covid-19 pandemic. Such unfortunate timing has likely contributed to the perception among many Colombians, of the fruitlessness of membership. While indeed complex and challenging, the paper seeks to present the situation of Colombian membership in more nuanced light.