Description
While nation-states remain a key actor in responding to global health problems, they have been to some extent sidelined from academic attention in the field of global health governance than other non-state actors such as the Bill Gates Foundation. In the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, although studies have examined strategies from high-income, powerful countries as well as politically week, lower income countries for securing COVID-19 vaccines, but middle-range powers like Australia and South Korea have not drawn much academic attention.
This study aims to explore the roles these middle-range powers have played in ensuring global access to COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic. It will examine how they have either facilitated or hindered the fair distribution of vaccines across the globe, as well as the factors that influenced their choice of strategy in responding to COVID-19 pandemic.
Specifically, this study delves into South Korea's strategy in World Trade Organisation negotiations regarding the waiver of Intellectual Property Rights for COVID-19 vaccines. It argues that South Korea's position on the waiver negotiation was not just simply influenced by international, geopolitical power dynamics, but importantly by its relationship with the (inter)national vaccine industry. This study contributes to the field of global helath politics by shedding light on the role of middle-range powers in global health governance.
