International Legalization as a Challenge for Democratic Participation in International Institutions ; The Politics of International Law Using the Example of Biotechnological Patents ; Internationale Verrechtlichung als Herausforderung für demokratische Partizipation in Internationalen Institutionen...
1 Introduction – An Empirical-Normative Turn in Research on Legalization 2 Legalizing International Relations 3 Democratic Participation in International Institutions 4 Legalization, Democracy, and Politics – A Harmonious or Tension-Ridden Relationship? 5 Methodology 6 Biotechnological Patents – Regulation, Interests, and Affectedness 7 Empirical Analysis of Legalization across International Institutions – Selective Expansion with the Handbrake On 8 Empirical Analysis of Democratic Participation in International Institutions – Undemocratic Trends to Different Extents 9 Legalization's (Un)Democratic Forces at Work 10 Conclusion – Laying Down the Law Appendix Bibliography ; A deeper understanding of international legalization's effect on democratic participation in international institutions is urgently needed. Policies that were formerly regulated within the domestic context have been subjected to international law (IL). This has resulted in a growing number of international agreements and bodies. Some of these institutions gained new legal quality in terms of their legal obligations, procedural rules, and dispute settlement. With this trend of growing international legalization, also the normative expectations of IL have increased. In particular the key standard of democratic participation has to be met by international institutions to be considered legitimate in the long run. This crucial relationship between international legalization and democratic participation has been neither systematically theorized nor empirically researched so far. The project forms part of a larger research strand on the interplay between law, politics, and democracy. By introducing a model of legalization's structure-inherent and actor-dependent effects, I demonstrate that legalization's costs cause powerful actors to restrict democratic participation in highly legalized international institutions. Only a formalization of membership rules tends to have a positive impact on democratic access. Biotechnological patents serve as field of ...
