Conflicts in the Knowledge Society The Contentious Politics of Intellectual Property

In Conflicts in the Knowledge Society, Sebastian Haunss demonstrates how conflicts relating to the international system of intellectual property have resulted in new cleavages in the knowledge society. Furthermore, he argues that new collective actors have emerged from these conflicts with the ability to contest the existing dominant order. With a focus on political opportunity structures, collective action networks and framing strategies, he combines a theoretical discussion of social change in the knowledge society with empirical analyses of four recent developments: software patents in Europe, access to medicines, Creative Commons licensing and Pirate Parties.

• Helps reader to understand how and why seemingly separate developments relating to intellectual property are connected

• Provides a theoretical background which aids the understanding of current conflicts about intellectual property rights and offers empirical underpinnings to the notion of social change

• Explores the social processes without which the current conflicts about IP cannot be fully understood