The utilisation of agenda-setting power in the multilateral trading system's evolution from 'negative' to 'positive' integration

Abstract

This paper contends that the construction of a globalised intellectual property rights regime (TRIPs) within the World Trade Organization (WTO) was emblematic of the shift from ‘negative’ to ‘positive’ integration, which necessitates that WTO Member states harmonise domestic regulations to conform to the precepts of multilateral trading system, and accounts for the relative institutional failure of the organisation since its inception in 1995. The paper examines this shift towards ‘positive’ integration by focussing on the campaign to formulate and construct the globalised intellectual property rights regime within the WTO. By examining the role of agenda-setting power in the creation of TRIPs this article intends to highlight the extent of the symbiosis between private commercial diplomacy and international trade law in campaign construction, and thereby demonstrate how private corporations have been able to formalise their specific interests within the WTO, while further exacerbating those asymmetries which ultimately have led to stasis in multilateral trade regulation.