Heinz Klug

Law, Politics, and Access to Essential Medicines in Developing Countries

This article argues that to advance the struggle for access to essential medicines, it is necessary to identify the global and local regimes that shape the rules that give impetus to particular policy options, while undermining others. In exploring the role of law and politics in this process, the author first outlines the globalization of a standardized, corporate-inspired, intellectual property regime. Second, the author uses the example of the HIV/AIDS pandemic to demonstrate how the stability of this new regime came under pressure, both locally and globally. Finally, it is argued that while the global HIV/AIDS pandemic and the social movements that emerged in response to government inaction have effectively challenged the TRIPS regime, this complex contestation has reached an unsustainable stalemate in which development aid, corporate, and non-governmental philanthropy is simultaneously providing increased availability to drugs while precluding a more lasting solution to the crisis of access to essential medicines in developing countries.

Defining the property rights of others: political power, indigenous tenure and the construction of customary land law

Constitutional recognition of indigenous law and the role of traditional authorities at last dignifies African legal culture in South Africa with the official equality it has so long been denied. But this new status will stimulate the debate over the content and construction of judicially-recognized customary law and its relationship to the new bill of rights (Bennett 1994a; Bennett and Roos 1992).

Straining the Law: Conflicting Legal Premises and the Governance of Aquatic Resources

While ecosystem management has been widely accepted as a key to addressing ecological crisis and conflict over aquatic resources, this article argues that the success of this approach may be threatened by the unarticulated assumptions of property rights embedded in the interstices of the law. Drawing on a history of conflict and cooperation in the management of natural resources, the article identifies different ways in which legal premises may be used to advance or retard the implementation of systems of aquatic resource management. Finally, the article calls for a closer understanding, within the law, of the relationship between the biological and ecological characteristics of a particular aquatic resource and the legal rules required to manage it in a sustainable way.

Postcolonial Collages: Distributions of Power and Constitutional Models With Special Reference to South Africa

The wave of post-Cold War state reconstruction was marked in its reliance on the adoption of new constitutions as the marker of a states transition to a new order. Whether at the beginning or end of the process, or as the central theme, as was the case in South Africa, post-Cold War constitutions came to reflect a common core of principles and institutions, despite the often nationalist tone surrounding their creation. This article argues that these constitutions both reflect a dominant post-Cold War international political culture and yet rely on their own histories and reconstruction processes to create hybrid forms to address local conditions. This process involves a specific politics, in which models - such as the US Constitution - are either used as models or anti-models, and results in the creation of a postcolonial collage of constitutional mechanisms and institutions that might offer an opportunity to achieve the democratic outcomes which have so often eluded postcolonial countries.

South Africa's Experience in Constitution-Building

This chapter draws on a brief history of the constitution-making process in South Africa to highlight five particular aspects of constitution-building. Noting that the process of constitution-making has become a key element in political transitions and post-conflict settlements in the post-cold war era, it is argued that the process of building a constitutional democracy encompasses a far broader range of issues than the drafting and adoption of a new constitution. The chapter identifies and discusses five sources of variation in constitution-building processes that impact the different issues enabling the building of a constitutional democracy. First, there is a temporal dimension, which may be characterised as being both macro and micro in scope, in that the general historic timing of a democratic transition as well as the specific time-frames within the process of constitution-making, all have clear consequences for the choices available to the parties. Second, there is a question of process in which the specific process of constitution-building, chosen from a range of historic options, is deployed by the parties to achieve specific advantages over their opponents but can also serve as a means to ensure that the political transition proceeds. Third, participation in the constitution-building process is an aspect that is important both for those who are active in the actual constitution-making process as well as the broader society that is called upon to accept and legitimate the constitutional product as the basis of a future social compact. Fourth, the recognition and use of constitutional principles is an important element of constitution-building in this era. Finally, the substantive choices inherent in a constitution-building process involve alternative institutional designs and substantive elements of the constitution, all of which have a significant impact on the overall process of constitution-building.

Pharmaceutical Production and Access to Essential Medicines in South Africa

This up-to-date book examines pharmaceutical development, access to medicines, and the protection of public health in the context of two fundamental changes that the global political economy has undergone since the 1970s, the globalization of trade and production and the increased harmonization of national regulations on intellectual property rights.

The Scarcity of Water: Emerging Legal and Policy Responses.

Part 1 State of the problem: The global water crisis - the major issue of the 21st century. A growing and explosive problem, H.L.F. Saeijs, M.J. van Berkel Water scarcity - challenges for the future, M. Falkenmark. Part 2 International Water Law: Water scarcity - institutional and legal responses, S.C.McCaffrey Interstate conflicts on water scarcity , A. Kiss The protection of international watercourses as sources of fresh water in the interest of future generations, M.O. Kroes Securing access to safe drinking water through trade and international migration, P.J.I.M. de Waart. Part 3 Water scarcity in selected river basins: Water scarcity and the Nile basin, J.W. Dellapenna Water as a source of international conflicts in the Middle East, H. Donkers Middle East water problems - the Jordan River, S.C. McCaffrey Water scarcity and water managements in Africa, C.O. Okidi. Part 4 Water scarcity in selected regions:Allocation of water rights in the United States, D. Tarlock Liability in Tort for the detrimental use of fresh water resources under Dutch law, in domestic and international cases, J.M. van Dunne Liability for damage to river beds in the Netherlands, G. Betlem Disputing water rights - scarcity of water in Nepal hill irrigation, F. von Benda-Beckmann et al. Part 5 Water scarcity and Economic Law: Balancing between free trade in water and the protection of water resources in GATT, E.J. de Haan Water conflicts between NAFTA countries - Mexico and the United States, R. Sanchez Privatization of drinking water supply in Europe, L. Hancher.