Trading in Public Hope

Bibliographic Data

ID9750286
AuthorsPeter Drahos (0000-0003-3243-6928, Australian National University, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume592
Issue1
Pages18-38
Publication date2004-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7162 • E-ISSN: 1552-3349
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0002716203261614
OpenAlexW2032191705
LanguageEN
Citations received28
References cited20

The article distinguishes three categories of hope: private, collective, and public. Public hope is hope that is invoked by political actors in relation to a societal goal of some kind. The article argues that public hope is the most dangerous kind of hope. The argument is developed using the recent history of trade negotiations between the United States and developing countries concerning intellectual property rights as they relate to life-saving medicines for AIDS. Public hope may allow political actors to harness emotionally collectivities to economic and social agendas that are poorly understood by those collectivities and that are ultimately destructive of the social institutions upon which actual private and collective hopes depend. Or public hope may be secret hope that drives policies that escape public notice until it is too late. The final section of the article identifies four principles that help to make public hope a contingent force for the good

Argument (complex analysis · Intellectual property · Law and economics · Negotiation · Notice · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Relation (database · Sociology · Ego Development and Educational Practices · Innovation and Socioeconomic Development · Law · Optimism, Hope, and Well-being

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