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Professor Christopher May

Professor of Political Economy

Degree: BA - Open University; MA - London Centre of International Relations, University of Kent at Canterbury; PhD - Nottingham Trent University

Associated research centres and groups: Centre for Law and Society, International, European and Comparative Law , Socio-legal work on Public Law, Legal Theory and Criminal Justice

Personal website

Current Teaching

Due to my position as Faculty Associate Dean: Enterprise, I will not be teaching undergraduate or post-graduate course until 2013/2014.

Research Interests

Christopher May is the Faculty Associate Dean: Enterprise (with responsibility for business engagement). He has published widely on intellectual property rights and the information society. His work has been translated into Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Swedish and Ukrainian. Before becoming an academic he worked in the music industry, as a bookseller and for the political pressure group Charter 88. He worked with the National Consumer Council to expand their coverage of intellectual property issues, and authored the first independent book length study of the World Intellectual Property Organisation. He has also been co-editor of the International Political Economy Yearbook series for Lynne Rienner Publishers (with Nicola Phillips), and chaired the panel of judges for the IPEG Book Prize for its first three years. He is currently in the early stages of a new research project examing the Rule of Law as the grundnorm of contemporary global politics.

Publications:

Books

The Political Economy of Intellectual Property Rights (three volumes) (Edward Elgar, 2010) [editor]

The Global Political Economy of Intellectual Property Rights: The new enclosures (The Routledge/RIPE Studies in Global Political Economy series) - fully revised/updated second edition (London: Routledge 2010)

Digital Rights Management: The Problem of Expanding Ownership Rights (Oxford: Chandos Publishing, 2007)

The World Intellectual Property Organization: Resurgence and the Development Agenda (Global Institutions series) (Routledge, 2007)

Global Corporate Power (IPEYearbook 15) (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2006)[editor]

Intellectual Property Rights: A critical history (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2005) [Co-authored, with Susan Sell]

Key Thinkers for the Information Age (London: Routledge, 2003) [editor]

The Information Society: A Sceptical View (Cambridge: Polity Press 2002) [Ukranian edition: (Kiev: K.I.C., 2004)]

Authority and Markets: Susan Strange's Writings on International Political Economy (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2002) [edited with Roger Tooze]

A Global Political Economy of Intellectual Property Rights. The New Enclosures? (The Routledge/RIPE Studies in Global Political Economy series) (London: Routledge 2000)

Articles in Journals

• 'The Rule of Law: Athenian Antecedents to Contemporary Debates' Hague Journal on the Rule of Law Vol. 4, Issue 2 (2012): 235-251.
• 'The Rule of Law: What is it and why is it 'constantly on people's lips'?' Political Studies Review Vol. 9 No. 3 (September 2011): 357-365.
• 'Bounded Openness: The Future Political Economy of Knowledge Management' European Intellectual Property Review Vol. 33, No. 8 (August 2011): 477-480.
• 'The Polanyian Perspective in the Era of Neoliberlism: The Protection of Intellectual Property Rights' (with Chakkri Chaipinit) Journal of Population and Social Studies Vol.19, No.1 (July 2010).
• 'John Ruskin's Political Economy: There is no wealth but life' British Journal of Politics and International Relations Vol. 12, No. 2 (May 2010): 189-204
• 'Response: Openness in academic publication: the question of trust, authority and reliability' (debate section) Prometheus: Critical Studies in Innovation Vol.28, No. 1 (March 2010): 91-94.
• 'Re-reading Unto this Last Today The Ruskin Review and Bulletin Vol. 6, No. 1 (Spring 2010): 11-20
• 'The Pre-History and Establishment of the WIPO' The WIPO Journal Vol. 1, No. 1 (December 2009): 16-26
• 'The Global Politics of Intellectual Property Rights in the New Millennium' E-International Relations - July 2009
• 'The Rule of Law Beyond the State: Mapping the Origins of an Idea' Indian Journal of Politics and International Relations Vol. 1, No. 2 (July-December 2008): 217-239.
• 'Opening other windows: a political economy of "openness" in a global information society' Review of International Studies (Special Issue: Cultures and Politics of Global Communication) Vol. 34 (January 2008): 69-92.
• 'The World Intellectual Property Organisation and the Development Agenda' Global Society Vol. 22, No.1 (January 2008): 97-113.
• 'The Rule of Law and International Political Economy: Starting a conversation' Zeitschrift fur Rechtssoziologie, Vol. 28, No. 2 (December 2007): 179-189.
• 'A multi-Tiered Music Industry?: intellectual property rights, open access and the audience for music' Journal of the Art of Record Production issue 2 (October 2007).
• 'No room for squares: A political economy of Blue Note records' Jazz Research Journal Vol. 1, No. 1 (May 2007): 25-44.
• 'The World Intellectual Property Organisation and the Development Agenda (Global Insights)' Global Governance: A review of multilateralism and international orgainsation Vol. 13, No. 2 (April-June 2007): 161-170
• 'The hypocrisy of forgetfulness: The contemporary significance of early innovations in intellectual property' Review of International Political Economy Vol. 14, No.1 (February 2007): 1-25[reprinted in: May, C (ed.) The Political Economy of Intellectual Property Rights (3 vols) (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2010)]
• 'Openness, the knowledge commons and the critique of intellectual property' re-public 12th December 2006 (also in Greek)
• 'The World Intellectual Propert Organization (Global Monitor)' New Political Economy Vol. 11, No. 3 (September 2006): 435-445.
• 'Patents, universities and the provision of social goods in the information society' Ethical Perspectives: Journal of the European Ethics Network Vol. 16, No. 2 (June 2006): 289-304.
• 'The FLOSS Alternative: TRIPs, Non-Proprietary Software and Development' Knowledge Technology and Policy (Special issue: Open Source Software) Vol. 18, No. 4 (Winter 2006): 142-163.
• 'Escaping TRIPs' Trap: The Political Economy of Free and Open Source Software in Africa' Political Studies Vol. 54, No. 1 (March 2006): 123-146.
• 'The Denial of History: Reification, Intellectual Property Rights and the Lessons of the Past' Capital and Class no. 88 (Spring 2006): 33-56.
• 'Between Commodification and "Openness": The Information Society and the Ownership of Knowledge' in Journal of Information Law and Technology [e-journal] (Special issue 2005, 2/3)
• 'The Academy's New Electronic Order? Open Source Journals and Publishing Political Science' EPS-European Political Science Vol.4, No.1 (March 2005): pp 14-24.
• 'Commodifying the Information Age: Intellectual Property Rights, the State and the Internet' Script-ed No.3 (September 2004){expanded and revised version of article originally published in Actual Marx}
• 'Capacity building and the (re)production of intellectual property rights' Third World Quarterly Vol. 25, No.5 (2004): pp 821-837.[reprinted in: May, C (ed.) The Political Economy of Intellectual Property Rights (3 vols) (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2010)]
• 'Cosmopolitan Legalism Meets "Thin Community": Problems in the Global Governance of Intellectual Property' Government and Opposition: An International Journal of Comparative Politics Vol. 39, No.3 (Summer 2004): pp 393-422.
• 'Antecedents to Intellectual Property: the European pre-history of the "ownership" of knowledge' History of Technology Vol. 24 (2002 [published 2004]): pp 1-20.
• 'Ägandet av dolda kunskaper och färdigheter' ['Owning tacit knowledge'] Fronesis 14-15 (Lag och ordning) (2003): pp 179-188.
• 'Digital rights management and the breakdown of social norms' First Monday Vol.8, No. 11 (November 2003).
• 'La marchandisation à "l'âge de l'information": droits de propriété intellectuelle, l'Etat et Internet' ['Commodifying the 'information age': intellectual property rights, the state and the Internet'] Actuel Marx No. 34 'Violence de la marchandisation' (September 2003): pp 81-97.
• (with Andrew Chadwick) 'Interaction between states and citizens in the age of the Internet: 'e-government' in the Unites States, Britain and the European Union' Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration and Institutions Vol. 16, No.2 (April 2003): pp 271-300.
• 'Why IPRs are a Global Political Issue' European Intellectual Property Review Vol.25, No. 1 (January 2003): pp 1-6. [reprinted in D.Vaver (ed.) Intellectual Property Rights: Critical Concepts in Law (five vols) (London: Routledge 2005)]
• 'The Political Economy of Proximity: Intellectual Property and the Global Division of Labour' New Political Economy Vol.7, No. 3 (November 2002): pp 317-342. [reprinted in S.Chan & P.C.Moore (eds) Theories of International Relations (four vols) (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2005)]
• 'The Venetian Moment: New Technologies, Legal Innovation and the Institutional Origins of Intellectual Property' Prometheus Vol.20, No.2 (June 2002): pp 159-179. [reprinted in D.Vaver (ed.) Intellectual Property Rights: Critical Concepts in Law (five vols) (London: Routledge 2005)][abridged and translated as: 'Venise: aux origines de la propriété intellectuelle' L'economie Politique Vol.14, No.2 (Sommaire 2002): pp 6-20.]
• 'Unacceptable Costs: The Consequences of Making Knowledge Property in a Global Society' Global Society Vol. 16, No.2 (April 2002): pp 123-144.
• 'Trouble in E-topia: Knowledge as Intellectual Property' Urban Studies Vol. 39, No.5-6 (May 2002): pp1037-1049.
• (with Susan Sell) 'Moments in Law: Contestation and Settlement in the History of Intellectual Property' Review of International Political Economy Vol.8, No.3 (Autumn 2001): pp467-500.[reprinted in B.Simmons (ed.) International Law (six volumes) (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2008).
• 'The Information Society as Mega-Machine: The Continuing Relevance of Lewis Mumford' Information Communication and Society Vol.3 No.2 (Summer 2000): pp241-265 [reprinted in: May, C (ed.) Key Thinkers for the Information Age (London: Routledge, 2003)].
• 'Information society, task mobility and the end of work' Futures Vol.32, No.5 (May 2000): pp399-416
• 'Information Society, Commodities and Continuity. A response to Professor Frank Webster's Information, Capitalism and Uncertainty' Information Communication and Society Vol.3 No.1 (Spring 2000) pp91-94
• 'Capital, Knowledge and Ownership. The Information Society and Intellectual Property' Information, Communication and Society Vol.1 No.3 (Autumn1998) pp245-268
• 'Thinking, Buying, Selling: Intellectual Property Rights in Political Economy' New Political Economy Vol.3 No.1 (March 1998) pp59-78
• 'Strange Fruit': Susan Strange's Theory of Structural Power in the International Political Economy, Global Society, Vol.10 No.2 (Spring 1996) pp167-189

Chapters in edited collections

• 'Direct and indirect influence at the World Intellectual Property Organization' in: M.Ougaard & A.Leander (eds) Business and Global Governance (Abingdon: CSGR/Routledge, 2010).
• 'The Corruption of the Public Interest: Intellectual Property and the Corporation as a Rights Holding "citizen".' in: T.Porter and K.Ronit (eds) The Challenges of Global Business Authority: Democratic Renewal, Stalemate or Decay (Albany: SUNY Press, 2010).
• 'Afterword' in: J.de Beer (ed.) Implementing the World Intellectual Property Organisation's Development Agenda (Ottawa: Wilfriid Laurier University Press/Internationla Development Research Centre, 2009)
• 'On the Border: biotechnology, the scope of intellectual property and the dissemination of scientific benefits' in: D. Castle (ed.) The Role of Intellectual Property Rights in Biotechnology Innovation (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2009)
• 'Globalizing the logic of Openness: Open Source Software and the Global Governance of Intellectual Property' in: A. Chadwick and P.H. Howard (eds) Routledge Handbook of Internet Politics (London: Routledge, 2009).
• 'Intellectual Property Rights, Capacity Building and "Informational Development" in Developing Countries' in: W.J. Drake and E.J.Wilson III (eds) Governing Global Electronic Networks: International Perspectives on Policy and Power (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 2008)
• 'The Rise and Fall of the global intellectual property paradigm' in: Laura White (ed.) Frontiers of Freedom: Theoretical Perspectives on Intellectual Property in the Digital Age (KnowledgePolitics.org, 2007): 6-8 [available at: http://www.knowledgepolitics.org.uk/KP_Frontiers_theory.pdf]
• 'Information wants to be owned: Soziale Auseinandersetzungen um Inwertsetzung und freie Wissensnutzung' in: Wissen in Bewegung: Vielfalt und Hegemonie in der Wissensgesellschaft (edited by S. Ammon, C. Heineke and K. Selbman) (Weilerswist: Velbrück Wissenschaft, 2007)
• 'Challenging Global Norms: The State, Social Costs and Legal Action' in: HIV/AIDS and the Threat to National and International Security (edited by R.L.Ostergard) (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)
• 'Learning to love patents: capacity building, intellectual property and the (re)production of governance norms in the 'developing world' in: Regulating Development: Evidence from Africa and Latin America (edited by E. Amann) (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2006)
• 'Concentrated Industry, Fragmented Consumption: The Global Music Industry in the New Millennium' in: Resounding International Relations: on music, culture and politics (edited by M.I. Franklin) (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).
• 'Digital Rights Management and the Global Governance of Intellectual Property' in: Digtal Rights Management: Concepts and Applications (edited by S.S. Kambhammettu) (Hyderabad: Le Magnus University Press, 2005)
• (with Debora Halbert) 'AIDS, Pharmaceutical Patents and the African State: Reorienting the Global Governance of Intellectual Property' in: The African State and the AIDS Crisis (edited by A. Patterson) (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005)
• 'Intellectual Property Rights' in: The Politics of International Trade in the Twenty-First Century: Actors, Issues, Regions (edited by D. Kelly and W. Grant) (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2005)
• '(Re)producing intellectual property norms: Capacity building programmes in developing countries' in: Global Regulation: Managing Crises after the Imperial Turn (edited by K. van de Pijl, L. Assasi and D. Wigan) (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2004)
• 'Justifying Enclosure? Intellectual Property and Meta-technologies' in: Biotechnology and Communications: The Meta-Technologies of Information (edited by S. Braman) (New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004).
• 'The Global Information Economy and Competitive Advantage' in: H. Bünz and A Kuklinski (eds) Globalization: Experiences and Prospects (Warsaw: Friedrich Ebert Foundation/ Oficyna Wydawnicza "Rewasz", 2001)
• 'An Annotated Bibliography of Susan Strange's Academic Publications' in: T.C. Lawton, A.C. Verdun and J.N. Rosenau (editors) Strange Power: Shaping the Parameters of International Relations and International Political Economy (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2000)
• 'Foundations of weightlesness. The knowledge economy, the state and economic development' in: A. Kuklinski and W.M. Orlowski (editors) The Knowledge Based Economy - The Global Challenges of the 21st Century (Science and Government series: 4) (Warsaw: KBN/Oficyna Wydawnicza "Rewasz", 2000)
• 'Structured Strangely: Susan Strange, Structural Power and International Political Economy' in: S. Chan and J. Wiener (editors) Theorising in International Relations. Contemporary theorists and their critics (Lewiston,NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1997).

Potential Doctoral Proposals

International Political Economy; Rule of Law

Future and on-going research

After fifteen years of researching into intellectual property rights I have decided to refocus my research. While still interested in the law and the normative role of legislation and its justification, my ongoing research will now look at the discourse of the Rule of Law and its function as the 'common-sense' of global politics. This builds on sectoral work on capacity building and technical assistance that I conducted in relation to IPRs. However, this new research seeks to understand the inculcation of the norm in policy actors, as well as identifying the mechanisms and processes of normative reproduction. Alongside this work, I will also be looking to establish a genealogical perspective on the norm of the Rule of Law itself, stretching back to its (relatively) formal origin in the twelfth century (and possibly beyond).

I have already started to publish and disseminate some early work on this subject, in parallel to finishing my publishing programme focussed on IPRs (culminating in the publication of a completely revised edition of my first monograph on IPRs). In the next three to five years I expect to publish a number of major journal articles on the Rule of Law and am planning a major book length treatment of the Global Politics of the Rule of Law.

Eprints Publications Repository and Bibliographic Database

Christopher May has 43 selected publication records listed on this webpage. Use links to access abstracts and full text where available. View all records to sort by date, type and title. For all ePrints records go to http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk

Associated Keywords: Capacity building, Comparative law, Corporations, Critical legal studies, Critical realism, Culture and media, E-commerce, Global governance, Globalisation, ICT, Information society, Innovation, Intellectual property rights, International law, International political economy, International relations, Knowledge, Law, Music, Music business, Policy, Political economy, Politics, Power, Science and technology studies

View all research activities, ePrints, news and events associated with Christopher May.

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