Volume 3, Issue 1

In the light of the disparity of bargaining leverage in FTA negotiations between the EU or the U.S. and developing countries, this article presents a legal mechanism to maintain the status quo, that is, the acquis of current trade arrangements. On the basis of the test established in the EC-Tariff Preferences case, it is argued that the Enabling Clause allows for differentiation between developing countries on the basis of their levels of intra-regional trade. A scheme is then constructed which allows the EU and the U.S. to differentiate in favor of current beneficiaries of non-reciprocal trade preference schemes in this way. This allows the EU and the U.S. to maintain the acquis without making radical changes to their trade and development policy. Where the status quo is an option, developing countries involved in FTA negotiations would have a feasible best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA) to replace the current alternative of a significant reduction of market access to the EU or the U.S. While the maintenance of the status quo is up to the industrialized country in question, given that the trade preferences are unilateral in nature, the scheme constructed debunks the myth that there is a legal requirement to replace the current arrangements by reciprocal trade agreements in the absence of a waiver.

Corruption supposedly reduces economic progress by creating an uncertain contracting environment and by preventing the state from efficiently providing public goods and correcting externalities. However, corruption can be efficiency-enhancing in countries with relatively little economic freedom. Corruption in the military appears to reduce economic growth, while corruption in the educational environment can increase economic growth. Evidence suggests that some types of corruption can increase growth when economic freedom is low.

Governments and scholars have for some time grappled with the question of whether there is a connection between intellectual property (IP) and economic development, and if so, how strong is the link. Economic literature is equivocal, with some studies concluding that the connection is strong while others conclude it to be fairly weak (and that there may not even be a connection for LDCs). What is quite clear is that countries have historically shaped and amended their IP regimes to promote domestic needs and objectives. It is also clear that several countries with weak IP policies achieved rapid economic growth and development over the last five decades. For these countries, the strengthening of IP rights (IPRs) occurred after the initial stages of increased growth and development. It is also well known that countries failing to adequately protect IP limit the upside of their economic development.Domestically implementing the obligations set out in the TRIPs Agreement provides stability, assists domestic inventors and sends a positive signal to foreign investors. Of course, implementing TRIPs also has its downside, namely by forcing countries to pay a higher price for technology. Herein lies the dilemma, in which developing countries raise IP standards in order to fulfill international obligations and attract foreign investment but at the same time potentially stifling economic, financial and social development by increasing payments to the developed world for superior (and sometimes essential) technologies.This article argues that IP is critical to full-scale technological and economic development for developing countries. Linking IPRs and economic development is not often a popular perspective, but it is clear that developing countries must now operate from the perspective of TRIPs being the minimum level of protection mandated by the international community – substantially deviating from the TRIPs standard is not a viable option. With IPRs and protection being raised in almost every free trade agreement negotiated by developed countries, as well as through the negotiation of new multilateral treaties, such as the proposed Substantive Patent Law Treaty and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, the time is ripe for developing countries to revisit the role of IP and economic development. Countries must seek the answers to a number of questions – have increased IPRs impacted upon poverty reduction strategies? Have IPRs encouraged or led to increased growth? How have IPRs impacted access to information, knowledge, education and research? Is the IP policy coherent with other public policy issues such as investment, public health, trade and competition?

For the past decade the EU has been preparing to end its tradition of preferential and partially reciprocal trade with the African-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP) countries. With the expiry of trade preferences in 2007 under the Cotonou Agreement, these trade partners have agreed to negotiate Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) and trade on reciprocal terms, in a bid to preserve their special relationship. A Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) was commissioned by the EU to engage stakeholders in discussion about the real and potential challenges of the new trade regime facing ACP countries. This paper examines the participatory process of the EPA negotiations, in particular the Sustainability Impact Assessment, through the lens of country ownership and deliberative democracy. Discussion of the participation process will be twofold: analysing whether the issues raised in the public sphere are reflected in the CARIFORUM-EC EPA, and the extent to which the SIA is legitimised through public participation.

This article provides a rare account of the law and development policies of North Korea. Much of North Korea has not been known to the outside world except its nuclear ambitions and political clashes with the United States and its allies. Little known to the outside world, North Korea achieved rapid economic development in the 1950s through early 60s, through effective mobilization of resources. However, since the 70s, North Korea experienced economic downturns that eventually led to its economic crisis in the 90s. This chapter provides a discussion of North Korea's early economic success and the subsequent problems that it experienced. The article also provides an analysis of possible economic reforms, public health and development issues, and the role of international trade in economic development in North Korea.

Development assistance programs in the law and justice sector have traditionally focused on reforming state legal institutions to the exclusion of customary legal systems. This is often because of host country pressure to achieve quick results, limited familiarity of foreign lawyers with the concepts of customary law, and donor reluctance to support customs that substantively or procedurally violate human rights norms. Yet, rule of law practitioners deployed to developing and post-conflict countries are increasingly confronted with the reality that customary legal systems are the preferred and, for the foreseeable future, the only viable means of dispute resolution available to the vast majority of people. Given the empirical evidence on the high level of recourse to customary law, this paper argues that customary legal systems are integral to development, and that both customary and state legal systems have a role to play in a functional justice sector. However, there is little systematic guidance for practitioners in the field, many of whom have had no previous exposure to customary law, on exactly what options are available to engage both systems and the issues that different types of interventions raise. This paper sets out a framework of policy options for programs that seek to harness the respective strengths of customary and state legal systems, giving examples of initiatives that have attempted to do this. The paper concludes by proposing good practices for rule of law practitioners to follow in supporting customary and state legal systems that co-exist in a manner which advances peace, economic growth and sustainable development.