Christopher May

Interaction between States and Citizens in the Age of the Internet: “e‐Government” in the United States, Britain, and the European Union

We examine the origins of the recent shift towards “e-government” in three cases: the United States, Britain, and the European Union. We set out three heuristic models of interaction between states and citizens that might underpin the practice of “e-government.” Focusing on U.S., British, and European Union initiatives, we undertake a comparative analysis of the evolution of key policy statements on e-government reform in national (and supranational) government. We conclude that the democratic potential of the Internet has been marginalized as a result of the ways in which government use of such technology has been framed since the early 1990s. An executive-driven, “managerial” model of interaction has assumed dominance at the expense of “consultative” and “participatory” possibilities.

Escaping the TRIPs’ Trap: The Political Economy of Free and Open Source Software in Africa

Across sub-Saharan Africa, the promise of ‘informational development’ is proclaimed. The global governance of intellectual property rights (IPRs), however, currently structured through the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) agreement and overseen by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), makes much software expensive to deploy. There is an alternative: open-source and/or free software ameliorates many of the cost problems countries in Africa have anticipated as they have changed their laws to protect IPRs; using non-proprietary software will enable them to deploy extensive computerisation without making large payments to suppliers from the developed countries. By escaping the TRIPs’ trap, many Africans will be better able to enjoy the potential benefits of ‘informational development’.

Unacceptable Costs: The Consequences of Making Knowledge Property in a Global Society

If we think of an author as having a natural right to profit from his work, then we will think of the copier as some sort of thief; whereas if we think of the author as beneficiary of a statutory monopoly, it may be easier to see the copier as an embodiment of free enterprise values.

The hypocrisy of forgetfulness: The contemporary significance of early innovations in intellectual property

ABSTRACT Although often now presented as a potentially universal set of legal principles, the particular history of the initial development of intellectual property rights (IPRs), first in Venice, then subsequently in Britain and across Europe is directly related to Europes specific history. In this paper, I argue that we cannot separate the development of intellectual property as a legal form from the specific early history of capitalism in Europe. The technological, institutional and political philosophical developments that underlay the development of nascent IPRs were a specific historical conjunction and suggests that rather than a universal set of rights, IPRs must be set in their historical, political economic context. In conclusion I draw some links between questions of differential treatment under contemporary multilateral governance through the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement and this early history of intellectual property to criticise the claims for a universal set of institutionalised rights without regard to levels of economic development.

The Denial of History: Reification, Intellectual Property Rights and the Lessons of the Past

In this article, I examine the impact of the reification of intellectual property rights (IPRs) on the global political economy of information and knowledge. I begin by establishing the central functions that IPRs perform in the global political economy, and then review reification as an analytical tool for the examination of social phenomena. The interrogation of IPRs using the concept of reification raises the issue of the role of anxiety in the politics of knowledge. There are two dimensions of anxiety that need to be accorded some analytical weight in any general discussion of the political problem of IPRs: anxiety about personal welfare, and anxiety about control. Both of these can be readily identified in discussions and disputes about the scope, applicability and costs of IPRs in the global system. This is to say that the reification of intellectual property contributes to the continuing discourse of depoliticisation and technocratic policy-making in this area. Thus, I argue that the reification of intellectual property must be resisted if we are to establish a meaningful global politics of information and knowledge.

The Venetian Moment: New Technologies, Legal Innovation and the Institutional Origins of Intellectual Property

The role of the Venetian republic in the history of intellectual property is not well known although the innovations which were later codified into law by the British Crown, and which are usually regarded as heralding the age of intellectual property, were first developed a century before in Venice. This article explores these precursors to the more commonplace understanding of the origins of intellectual property law, and draws some parallels between the current debates about property in knowledge and the time of its first formal emergence some 500 years ago.

The Political Economy of Intellectual Property Rights

Christopher May – a leading authority in the field – has selected material that provides important insights on the global governance of intellectual property. His collection ranges across a number of disciplines and political perspectives to establish that the political economic analysis of intellectual property is both multifaceted and contested. Professor May has also provided an introduction that will serve as an authoritative and comprehensive guide to the main issues under discussion.

Capital, knowledge and ownership: The ‘information society’ and intellectual property

The argument that the information society represents ‘something new’ is predicated on the claim that its use of a new resource — knowledge/information — fundamentally differentiates it from previou...

Trouble in E-topia: Knowledge as Intellectual Property

This article looks at the claims made about the citys new workplace, where information-related endeavour is leading to a new world of work. However, this can only be regarded as a positive step in labour relations if the central role of intellectual property in the information age is forgotten or obscured. After briefly laying out the claims made about the new age, the article identifies the continued importance for capitalists of controlling property rights, leading to an examination of the continuing property-based relations between information labour and capital(ists). Rather than representing an e-topia, the citys new mode of economic activity exhibits significant continuities with previous modes of capitalism. The claims for the empowerment of information and knowledge-workers in the new age are therefore optimistic at best and mistaken at worst.

The Rule of Law

This timely book explores the complexities of the rule of law – a well-used but perhaps less well understood term – to explain why it is so often appealed to in discussions of global politics. Ranging from capacity building and the role of the World Bank to the discourse(s) of lawyers and jurisprudential critiques, it seeks to introduce non-lawyers to the important and complex political economy of the rule of law.