Christopher May (2000), A Global Political Economy of Intellectual Property Rights: The New Enclosures? Routledge
[11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE, UK; info@routledge.co.uk]
ISBN 0415229049; 224 p; Price £ 55; US$ 90.

This valuable and interesting book is part of the RIPE series Studies in Global Political Economy and asks whether the current Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) arrangements are either just or sustainable. The main value of The New Enclosures ? lies in its ability to set what might seem to be a rather specialized set of problems into an overall framework. This will allow those interested in biotechnology issues to draw on a wider literature and logic for their argumentation.

Through a meticulous account of the legal construction of intellectual property and of contemporary disputes over knowledge resources, for example on genetically modified food, May is able to demonstrate that the balance in intellectual property rights (IPR) between "public good" and "private reward" is weighted solidly towards the latter. He shows how the TRIPS concerns of industrialized and developing countries differ markedly, and seeks to expose the power relations of the current knowledge structure which are likely to increase the gap in wealth between those who own IPRs and those who wish to use them.

The term "the new enclosures" itself relates to the idea that previous social (i.e. public, communal) property or non-property, such as individual genetic codes, has become privately appropriated and exploited for profit. As in history, these new enclosures produce their own and varied sites of resistance. The strength of May's book is in providing the ammunition for those wishing to engage in such debate and struggle. As May notes "accusations of colonialism and imperialism are common currency in the criticisms of bioprospecting and biotechnology, and the demands to secure a price for these resources has taken on a radical political hue."

The book's political potential can be shown by a more concrete example. Its call for an environmentalism of the internet can be linked to arguments about the need for a public realm of information and thence to the green movement, which provides a good model from which a grass-roots politics of intellectual property can be developed initially. This then allows those engaged in biotechnology to think about coordinating their discussions with others of similar intent. In this sense, the book not only offers a lucid and rich account of one of the most important political problems of the new millennium, but also offers a way forward for political activity.

Of particular interest for readers of the Biotechnology and Development Monitor, chapter four on "sites of resistance" includes pharmaceuticals and biotechnology and suggests that "the international pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries are emblematic of the public/private issue in the realm of intellectual property." May proposes that "as with other industries that have increased the informational content of their procedures, [biotechnology] companies have sought to protect their valuable knowledge resources as intellectual property." A range of case-study examples, including most famously the case of neem products in India, back up some compelling arguments, for instance on the opening of a "biotechnology gap" as developing countries become increasingly unable to compete with "superior" products from industrialized countries.

Whilst sections such as this are valuable, perhaps the main shortcoming for Monitor readers is that The New Enclosures? spends quite some time laying out a theoretical framework. However interesting this framework might be, it nonetheless relates to arguments in the somewhat specific academic sub-field of Global Political Economy. Nevertheless, this framework, the treatment of TRIPs and the subsequent discussion about widespread intellectual property problems are nonetheless important in building up a wider, comprehensive, picture. Whilst only certain sections are of direct relevance to readers of the Monitor the book contains much that will be of interest. A future, cheaper paperback edition might hopefully widen its appeal.