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85 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 2138 (2010)
GI Joe - Coffee, Location, and Regulatory Accountability

handle is hein.journals/nylr85 and id is 2150 raw text is: GI JOE? COFFEE, LOCATION, AND REGULATORY ACCOUNTABILITY WEBSTER D. McBRIDE* Geographical Indications (GIs)-product labels indicating places of origin when the quality of products are linked to their geographic origin-have long been a hotly-contested domain of international trade among nations in the developed West. Recently, a literature has emerged evaluating the prospects for developing coun- tries' use of GIs to bolster their agricultural sectors, but the empirical economics of GIs remain poorly understood. This Note approaches the issue from a different angle. The rhetoric that attends discussion of the economics of developing-nation GI implementations often makes reference to nonpecuniary, softer benefits of the GI phenomenon-in particular, its pro-local counterbalance to the multinational forces commonly perceived to dominate the global marketplace. This Note seeks to scrutinize this aspect of GIs' impact on developing-world producers by assessing the political, institutional, and cultural dynamics that the international GI regime fosters. To ground my inquiry in an analytic framework, this Note employs metrics derived from the Global Administrative Law (GAL) project spearheaded by Benedict Kingsbury and Richard Stewart. Specifically, this Note asks whether the institutional dynamics that GI protection fosters among developing-world coffee farmers have the effect of promoting or obstructing regulatory accountability as measured by GAL's three main principles: participation, transparency, and review. In theory, the implementation of a GI product specification should empower devel- oping-world coffee producers by fostering their regulatory involvement and civic organization, facilitating collective management of their joint reputation, and offering access to mechanisms by which they might hold opportunistic actors accountable. This Note concludes, however, that the practical realities are unencouraging because states without preexisting and well-developed institutional infrastructures have difficulty corralling powerful actors seeking to exploit GIs for private benefit. INTRODucTiON A few blocks from New York University School of Law, the Porto Rico Importing Co. has outfitted the center of its shop with a cluster of barrels, each topped with a mound of coffee beans from a different tropical locale. On one end of the display are Costa Rican beans going * Copyright © 2010 by Webster D. McBride. J.D., 2010, New York University School of Law; B.A., 1999, Yale University. I would like to thank Professors Amy Adler, Barton Beebe, Benedict Kingsbury, Troy McKenzie, and Smita Narula for their inspiration, advice, and comm~ents. I am also indebted to the editors of this Note, Sean Aasen and Christina Prusak, as well as to Darwon Choc, Do Hyun Kim, Jason Liu, Sarah Lustbader, Nicole Peles, Kristin Richer, Natalie Thomas, and the entire staff of the New York University Law Review. Thank you McBrides-Emilie, Jon, and Morley-for putting up with a frazzled son and brother one holiday after another. Finally, for her infinite patience and support, special thanks to Ms. Nicole Bruno. 2138 Reprinted with Permission of New York University School of Law

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