Abstract
Revolution has taken many faces over the last decades, with some calling for the recognition of the "information revolution" and the advent of cyberspace, while others bringing attention to the "biotech revolution" and the age of cloning. Behind this revolutionary changes is lying an "unexamined process of rhetorical and interpretive construction" that needs to be addressed and critically analysed. The objective of this research is to address one aspect of this process, that is, the international regulation and global governance of genetic resources and biotechnology, that is, bio-governance
The objective is to highlight the challenges inherent in trans-national governance of complex and highly contested decision-arenas, which are characterised by complexity, incomplete information and uncertainty, as well as radically different shared understandings of the bio-issue at stake by the different actors
Following a series of events, pressures have emerged in the 1980s to revise the international regulatory framework into three main overlapping regimes. This triadic system is composed by the "Convention on biological diversity", the "WTO's TRIPs agreement" and the "Cartagena protocol on biosafety"
Focusing on the dynamics of institutional change, this research critically analyses the impact of non-state actors, mainly the IP-dependent biotech industry, upon the international governmental negotiations that led to the recent construction and architecture of bio-governance. Those actors resorted specifically to two complementary and powerful negotiation strategies, framing and forum-shifting. Such strategies led to the fragmentation of the system, within which lies the seeds of contestation and conflict, and, in turn, the potential for further change
The objective is to highlight the challenges inherent in trans-national governance of complex and highly contested decision-arenas, which are characterised by complexity, incomplete information and uncertainty, as well as radically different shared understandings of the bio-issue at stake by the different actors
Following a series of events, pressures have emerged in the 1980s to revise the international regulatory framework into three main overlapping regimes. This triadic system is composed by the "Convention on biological diversity", the "WTO's TRIPs agreement" and the "Cartagena protocol on biosafety"
Focusing on the dynamics of institutional change, this research critically analyses the impact of non-state actors, mainly the IP-dependent biotech industry, upon the international governmental negotiations that led to the recent construction and architecture of bio-governance. Those actors resorted specifically to two complementary and powerful negotiation strategies, framing and forum-shifting. Such strategies led to the fragmentation of the system, within which lies the seeds of contestation and conflict, and, in turn, the potential for further change