Introductory description

The module invites students to explore the impact of regulation on technology governance. Informed by regulatory theory, the module will help students understand how the regulation shapes the development and production of technologies, by determining who develops them, who has access to them, how their use and disposal are controlled, and who is accountable for damage and other consequences caused by technology. It explores different regulations, including intellectual property, trade and investment, human rights, biodiversity and climate, as well as regulation of high-risk technologies. It also discusses how these regimes shape the state’s ability to regulate technology in the public interest, protect human rights, biodiversity, and environment. The module is also inspired by critical theory of technology and explores the controversies surrounding technology’s role in society, such as its welfare-improving and welfare-deteriorating effects, inequalities of access to essential technologies, and globally uneven environmental costs. Students will be offered the opportunity to conduct case-studies that focus on specific technologies – such as quantum technology, artificial intelligence, medical technology, information technology, and food and climate technologies, among others.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

This is an indicative module outline to give a taste of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

1. Regulatory theory, critical theory of technology, and regulation of science
2. Intellectual property and incentives for technology development
3. Dissemination, sharing, and transfer of technology under the global intellectual property system
4. Liberalising trade in technology goods and services
5. Protecting investments in technology
6. Host State policy space in international investment law
7. Human rights to science and technology, health and a clean environment
8. International law protecting biodiversity
9. Regulation of risk

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Understand the role of regulation in shaping the development and use of technology
• Demonstrate knowledge of the aspects of intellectual property, trade, investment, human rights, biodiversity, and environmental regulation relevant to technology governance
• Critically analyse the regulatory policy space available to the state for mitigating the negative consequences of technology
• Provide an informed critical view on the regulatory issues of technology governance

Indicative reading list

1. Drahos, Peter, ed. Regulatory Theory: Foundations and Applications (ANU Press, 2017).
2. Drahos, Peter. ‘Responsive Science’. Annual Review of Law and Social Science 16 (2020): 327–342.
3. Jasanoff, Sheila. ‘Technologies of Humility: Citizen Participation in Governing Science’. Minerva 41 (2003): 223–244.
4. Viñuales, Jorge E. The Organisation of the Anthropocene: In Our Hands? Brill Research Perspectives (Leiden: Brill, 2018).
5. Große Ruse-Khan, Henning. The Protection of Intellectual Property in International Law. First edition. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).
6. Scherer, Maxi, Stuart Bruce, and Juliane Reschke. ‘Environmental Counterclaims in Investment Treaty Arbitration’. ICSID Review - Foreign Investment Law Journal 36, no. 2 (March 2021): 413–440.
7. Dreyfuss, Rochelle Cooper. ‘Human Rights in a Technological Age: The Right to Participate in Science’. NYU Journal of International Law and Politics, no. 10 (2023): 581–626.
8. Morgera, Elisa, Elsa Tsioumani, and Matthias Buck. Unraveling the Nagoya Protocol: A Commentary on the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Vol. 2 Legal Studies on Access and Benefit-Sharing (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2014).
9. Feenberg, Andrew. ‘The Critical Theory of Technology’. Capitalism Nature Socialism 1, no. 5 (January 1990): 17–45.
10. Gold, E. Richard. ‘Regulatory Capitalism and Legal Evolution’. In Kritika: Essays on Intellectual Property, edited by Hanns Ullrich, Peter Drahos, and Gustavo Ghidini (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2024), 193–211.
11. Haines, Fiona. ‘Regulation and Risk’. In Regulatory Theory: Foundations and Applications, edited by Peter Drahos (Canberra: ANU Press, 2017), 181–196.

Research element

Independent research for assessment.

Interdisciplinary

The module encompasses law, regulatory theory, and critical theory of technology.

International

International laws relating to intellectual property, trade and investment, human rights, biodiversity and climate, as well as regulation of high-risk technologies.

Subject specific skills

Conduct research and analysis of primary and secondary sources on intellectual property, trade and investment, human rights, biodiversity and climate, as well as regulation of high-risk technologies.

Transferable skills

• Critical thinking
• Academic speaking and writing
• Literature review and analysis