Call for Papers - Deadline 1 February 2009!
5th ECPR General Conference in Potsdam, 10-12 September 2009
Section: Protest Politics
Panel: The Contentious Politics of Intellectual Property
(http://www.ecpr.org.uk/potsdam/panel_details.asp?panelID=115)
In the official declaration of the G8 summit 2007 in Heiligendamm the
heads of government of the most powerful industrialized countries have
given the »protection of intellectual property rights« a top priority.
IP protection was mentioned in their final statement even before
climate change as a political issue of crucial importance, preceded
only by global economic growth, the stability of financial markets,
and the freedom of investment. But with the increasing importance of
intellectual property, political conflicts are emerging as diverse
actors contest the structure, scope, and boundaries of existing legal
frameworks of intellectual property rights. These conflicts have
arisen most visibly in six areas: biodiversity, public health,
biomedical biotechnology, software, research tools, and file sharing.
In each of these conflicts, the prevailing framework that maximizes
the rights of IP owners is fundamentally questioned.
Within the section on Protest Politics at the 5th ECPR General
Conference this panel will examine some of these conflicts focussing
especially on the role of non-state actors and protest politics. By
doing this it expands the dominant economic and legal perspective that
still prevails in this issue area. As research on the issue of social
and political aspects intellectual property does not yet form an
established subject in the social sciences possible contributions may
addrerss conceptual theoretical questions or present results from case
or country studies and policy analyses.
Possible issues that might be addressed in the papers are:
* Actors and coalitions: Which (collective) actors are involved in IP
conflicts? On what basis are coalitions formed?
* Strategies and forms of action: Is it possible to identify more or
less successful forms of action? What is the protest repertoire of non-
state actors in IP conflicts?
* Frames: How do actors politicize IP issues and overcome the hurdle
of technicality?
* Scope: How does the fact that IP issues are often governed on a
global (TRIPS) or regional (EU, FTAs) level affect the ability of
contentious actors to mobilize around these issues.
Paper Submission:
Quantitative, qualitative or theoretical papers are welcome. The
conference language will be English.
A proposal of not more than 500 words is due by 1 February 2009.
Please submit your paper on the web using the form at:
http://www.ecpr.org.uk/potsdam/select_panels.asp?panelID=115§ionID=40
Please send your submission also as an email to
Sebastian Haunss at sebastian(dot)haunss(at)uni-konstanz(dot)de.
Accepted papers will be announced on 1 March 2009. Full papers should
be uploaded to the ECPR website by 15 August 2009.
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Dr. Sebastian Haunss
University of Konstanz
Universitaetsstrasse 10
Fach 90
D-78457 Konstanz
Germany
tel: +49-(0)7531-88-3757
fax: +49-(0)7531-88-2855
email: sebastian.haunss at uni-konstanz.de
web: http://shaunss.wordpress.com/
http://www.ipgovernance.eu
