Bradly J. Condon - Böcker

Climate change presents an unprecedented global challenge, and impacts upon a wide range of human economic activity. The issue of how to address climate change in developing countries has provoked international political controversy and the urgent need for effective international responses has become increasingly apparent. The Role of Climate Change in Global Economic Governance addresses the growing number of legal and economic issues that arise with respect to climate change, combining analysis from economic, financial, and legal perspectives. The book assesses how the World Trade Organization, international investment law, and the international intellectual property rights regime approach the economic issues raised by climate change. The authors analyse how climate change regulation interacts with international economic law, and consider how financial instruments and insurance can mitigate the risks posed by climate change and facilitate adaptation. It breaks new ground in considering the financial sector's response to climate change, looking at how market mechanisms and risk insurance can reduce its economic cost.

Condon explains key aspects of NAFTA and WTO rules on trade in goods and services, foreign direct investment and intellectual property protection and shows how these rules affect global business strategies. Cases are used to illustrate how these agreements work and how they affect crucial business interests. He examines the political context in which the negotiation and enforcement of trade agreements take place and how business people can enforce the rules and influence the negotiations to support global business strategies. He also shows how NAFTA, WTO, and global business strategy affect some of the major issues of our time, such as AIDS, global security, environmental protection, globalization protesters, and illegal migration from Mexico to the United States.Anyone doing business from, to, and within the NAFTA region will find this essential reading. NAFTA and WTO interact in ways that can make or break a company's strategy. Business strategists must consider the impact of today's rules and how future developments will affect them. However, as Condon makes clear, this book is about more than just business. The globalization of law and business affects the lives of everyone. Scholars, researchers, students, and international business professionals will find the book of value, as will those involved with financial services, international law, and international relations.

We began to research for this book in 2000, with the idea that we might contribute to the search for solutions to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic by c- bining perspectives from different disciplines. Much has happened in the interv- ing years. First, the severity of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa – and the threat it posed for many others regions of the world – led to a movement among several countries to correct the imbalance between producers and users of ph- maceutical products. This effort produced a clarification of the right of gove- ments to produce generic medicine under compulsory licenses and an amendment of the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS Agreement to allow exports of generic medicines from one WTO Member to another. In 2007, the amended rules were put into practice, with Canada authorizing the export of generic antiretroviral drugs to Rwanda. However, at the same time, global patent laws have been undermined due to regulatory capture, most notably in free trade agreements and through political pressure on countries like Thailand to not to exercise their right to issue compulsory licenses for pharmaceutical products. Second, the amount of money available for the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS has increased dramatically, with the establishment of the World Bank Multi-Country HIV/AIDS Program for Africa (MAP), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), among other funding initiatives.

This book covers the global HIV/AIDS pandemic from a multidisciplinary perspective, analyzing its economic impact, the reasons behind the political response, international laws relating to public health and methods for financing global and national responses.