Fall/Winter 2006 - University of Toronto Press Publishing

P O L I T I C S A N D P O L I C Y
The Illusive Trade-off
Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation Systems, and
Egypt’s Pharmaceutical Industry
Basma Abdelgafar
STUDIES IN COMPARATIVE POLITICAL ECONOMY AND
PUBLIC POLICY
The Egyptian pharmaceutical industry serves as a
case study for understanding the impact of the global
intellectual property regime in this fascinating new
addition to the University of Toronto Press Studies
in Comparative Political Economy and Public Policy
series. The Illusive Trade-off examines the Egyptian
pharmaceutical industry within a broader context
of intellectual property policy making and the
multilateral agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs).
Basma Abdelgafar offers a fascinating discussion
of Egypt’s role in the trade negotiations that led to
the establishment of the World Trade Organization,
and makes the case that predominant perspectives
on intellectual property rights are based on the false
assumption that the innovation process is discrete
and segmented. Abdelgafar contends that, in fact,
innovation relies upon diffusion, and that inappropriately
strong property rights interfere with
this process. She uses the case of Egypt’s pharmaceutical
industry to argue that we must consider
relevant aspects of individual countries’ systems
of innovation as well as public health, if we are to
adequately understand the implication of stronger
patent protection for the pharmaceutical industries
of developing nations. The Illusive Trade-off is an
original and important study crossing the disciplines
of political science, law, public policy, and
public health.
Basma Abdelgafar is an independent scholar living
in Ottawa. She holds research positions at Carleton
University and with the Joint Centre for Bioethics
at the University of Toronto.
Canadian Annual Review
of Politics and Public
Affairs 2001
Edited by David Mutimer
Long praised for its accuracy, readability, and
insight, the Canadian Annual Review of Politics and
Public Affairs offers a synoptic appraisal of the year’s
developments in Canadian politics.
Much of the world, and many in Canada, celebrated
a new century and a new millennium at the
beginning of 2000. It was the year 2001, however,
that truly seemed to herald a new age. 2001 was
an eventful year, perhaps more so than any since
1989. With the events of September 11th, and in
the months that followed, Canadian public life, as
with the public life of so much of the world, was
reconfigured. While more than half the year had
passed, 2001 will continue to be defined by the
attacks on the United States and by the responses
that were taken by the United States and others,
including Canada. Had the attacks of September
not happened, 2001 might well have been remembered
for the Summit of the Americas, bringing all
but one of the heads of government in the Americas
to Quebec City. The summit was held within an
immense exclusion zone, and surrounded by protest
– some violent.
The Canadian Annual Review is unique in its
collection and presentation of the year in politics.
The combination of the calendar and the text offers
a superb, easy-access reference source for political
events, both federal and provincial.
David Mutimer is a principal research fellow in the
Centre for International Cooperation and Security,
Department of Peace Studies, at the University
of Bradford and an associate professor in the
Department of Political Science at York University.
Approx. 224 pp / 6 x 9 / December 2006
Cloth ISBN 0-8020-9180-6 / 978-08020-9180-2
£32.00 $50.00 E
Approx. 304 pp / 6 x 9 / January 2007
Cloth ISBN 0-8020-9235-7 / 978-0-8020-9235-9
£65.00 $100.00 E
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