THE MAKING OF A REGIME: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM (UNITED STATES, CHINA, NIGERIA)

The dissertation's thesis is that intellectual property right policies were not economic decisions but rather political decisions based on domestic and international special interests. Using an original dataset that measured the strength of intellectual property right laws and their enforcement for seventy countries over the 1988–1994 period, analyses were conducted to address two questions: what factors determine the level of intellectual property rights protection cross-nationally and do strong IPR protection policies promote economic growth? The dissertation begins with a theoretical chapter that refutes the arguments for considering intellectual property rights as human rights. Case studies are then utilized to show explicitly the influence of domestic and international special interests in promoting the development of intellectual property rights protection in the United States, China and Nigeria.; In determining the level of intellectual property rights protection, differences between developed and developing countries were found, with domestic technology levels being most important for developed countries and globalization most important for developing countries. It was also determined that intellectual property rights protection has no significant impact cross-nationally on economic growth in the short term and in the long term. This finding refutes the existing qualitative and quantitative literature, lending greater support that the decision to adopt strong intellectual property regimes is not driven by economic decision-making, but rather rational political considerations.