Global public policy, transnational policy communities, and their networks

Public policy has been a prisoner of the word "state." Yet, the state is reconfigured by globalization. Through "global public–private partnerships" and "transnational executive networks," new forms of authority are emerging through global and regional policy processes that coexist alongside nation-state policy processes. Accordingly, this article asks what is "global public policy"? The first part of the article identifies new public spaces where global policies occur. These spaces are multiple in character and variety and will be collectively referred to as the "global agora." The second section adapts the conventional policy cycle heuristic by conceptually stretching it to the global and regional levels to reveal the higher degree of pluralization of actors and multiple-authority structures than is the case at national levels. The third section asks: who is involved in the delivery of global public policy? The focus is on transnational policy communities. The global agora is a public space of policymaking and administration, although it is one where authority is more diffuse, decision making is dispersed and sovereignty muddled. Trapped by methodological nationalism and an intellectual agoraphobia of globalization, public policy scholars have yet to examine fully global policy processes and new managerial modes of transnational public administration

The global knowledge economy in question

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to bring into question the idea of the global knowledge economy. Design/methodology/approach – The paper explores the characteristics of the knowledge economy, as elaborated by academics and policy makers concerned with knowledge in the contemporary global business environment. A range of available data is reviewed concerning the global distribution of investments in knowledge, information and communications technologies (ICTs), international transactions in knowledge-intensive services and royalty and licensing fees, employment by sector and literacy rates. Such data provide a basis for an initial critical evaluation of the notion of the global knowledge economy. Findings – The use of the term “global knowledge economy” fails to acknowledge the uneven distribution of knowledge-based economic activity. Moreover, as currently constituted, the idea of a global knowledge economy, which focuses on knowledge as conceptualised in the commercial activities of advanced countries, overlooks the diversity of knowledges present in the world today. Originality/value – This paper provides the first attempt to question and critically explore the global knowledge economy

The rule of law after globalisation: is myth or reality?

The rule of law is unique establishment that had taken place in historical context, as politico-legal edifice of capitalist society. To the extent that any legal system was established in historical context, its form and functioning are cannot be channelled by reflections or professional commitments of lawyers and legal philosophers. The rule of law emerged in certain conditions that we say “classical liberalism”, of power allocation where we diversify political power and legal power in the milieu of political society, enunciated as republic or commonwealth. Contrary to earlier forms of legal order, capitalism was unique that its super structure was articulated according to the pivotal role of legal machinery. There was an actual equilibrium between legal and political domains that they moderately matched with public and private dichotomy. After monopoly capitalism, social setting of liberalism was dramatically incurred some major modifications which were firstly dislocation of liberal individual, incited by monopoly capital and secondly, political achievement of the working classes obtained political equality, as drastic consequence of mass society. Hence, the rule of law altered as depoliticsation of democratised mass society, instead of modus vivendi of liberal individuals, which demarcated the rule of law according to welfare society or sozialrechtsstaat. The neo-liberal globalisation after 1980’s, republican model of political society faded away that it has been transformed by transnational capital where markets, hierarchies, regionalism and communal settings crosscut inner equilibrium between politics and law. Finally, the newborn articulation of power structure undermined necessary basement of the rule of law

The challenge of ecological justice in a globalising world

Ecological justice is a challenging concept in relation to the current development of agriculture, including organic agriculture, because it positions social and ecological interests against market liberalism and economic growth. Ecological justice concerns fairness with respect to common environments, and it is therefore closely connected to the idea of commons. The concepts of commons and ecological justice are particularly relevant to organic agriculture, which builds on close cooperation with ecological systems and cycles, and they may suggest ways to resist the pressures of globalisation and structural and technological developments

No pills for poor people? Understanding the disembowelment of India’s patent regime

The recent amendment to the Patent Act, 1970 brings India into full compliance with its obligations under the TRIPs Agreement, in particular allowing for product patents in the area of pharmaceuticals and agrichemicals. This amendment, the third to the 1970 Act, was characterised by a relatively muted rhetoric and a remarkable level of shared consensus amongst campaigners and critics. Focusing largely on domestic compulsions, as opposed to the global, the paper explores whether the shared consensus sets too narrow an agenda for patent reform. The paper suggests that the limits to implementing TRIPs are equally on account of ambivalence within the government with respect to intellectual property and the changing self- interest of sections of Indian pharma. Thus, despite a favourable international climate in the area of intellectual property (read Seattle, Cancun and Doha), the patent reform in India has been doubly constrained by the narrow agenda and domestic factors

Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal – Session on: Workers and Consumers Rights in the Garment Industry

A report from the International Forum on Clean Clothes, outlining the status of human and labor rights in the garment industry and presenting proposals for improvement

Introduction: food relocalisation and knowledge dynamics for sustainability in rural areas

The chapter presents the literature on local food and local knowledge and introduces the case studies analysed in the volum

Synergistic literacies: Fostering critical and technological literacies in teaching legal research methods at the University of Waikato

Nowadays, new law courses are not approved unless both the "needs analysis" is convincing and the "consumer demand" is certain. Needs and demands today are driven by new pressures for technological literacy accelerated by globalisation and the current revolution in information and communication technologies (ICTs). The popular logic is that new global "knowledge economies" need "knowledge workers" or "wired workers" to labour in the new e-markets for goods and services and to use the burgeoning number and high quality of electronic information databases now essential to legal research. Students are acutely aware of these developments as well as of the highly competitive nature of the contemporary labour market for law graduates. Consequently, students are demanding more "how to" research skills training. This article puts in context the reasons why, at the University of Waikato, we regard creating synergy between critical and technological literacy as essential for teaching and learning law-in-context research methods, and then describes the curriculum we designed for a legal research methods course in order to trial this approach. From the start we have been clear that the new course was not just to be a "how to" course, and that we would be concentrating on critical literacy as much as technological literacy. For us, critical literacy is fundamental because it relates to the way in which one analyses the world, a process described as "becoming aware of the underlying structure of conceptions".1 This awareness includes the politics in the architectures that constitute the Internet and the assembly of information accessible on it. We designed our curriculum for critical literacy around five types of analysis. Our shorthand for this is to call these "the five 'Cs'". Our five interrelated categories for analysis focus on: Change - in society, economy and culture Concepts - legal and sociological concepts and analytical frameworks Critique (and standpoint or perspective) Comparisons (and Contrasts) Contexts. We argue that, at a minimum, these are the conceptual tools necessary to critique and engage the operation of the law in the context of society, noting especially inequalities and injustices. Throughout the course students are encouraged to harness technological literacy to each dimension of their analysis. This article consists of two main parts. The first part ("Context and Assumptions") explores in some depth the reasons for the need to teach critical literacy alongside technological literacy. The second part ("The Legal Research Methods Course") describes our efforts to promote the synergy between critical and technological literacies in the context of a fourth year optional course, Legal Research Methods 2000, at the University of Waikato School of Law