Christopher May

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). My monogrpah on the rule of law was published in 2014.
I also have an ongoing interest in the political economy of global corporations; my most recent output on this theme is Global Corporations in Global Governance (Global Institutions series) (Routledge 2015).
Research Interests
I have published widely on intellectual property rights and the information society, with work translated into Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Swedish and Ukrainian. Before becoming an academic I worked in the music industry, as a bookseller and for the political pressure group Charter 88. I 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. I was also 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.
Current Teaching
I teach an undergraduate third year module on Global Corporations
Research Overview
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).
PhD Supervision Interests
International Political Economy; Rule of Law