Sating hunger in an age of plenty : the global food governance space and its role in the establishment of an effective food security regime
Year: 2017
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Contextualised in food security literature and globalisation literature and NGO and \nagency reports on food security, Sating Hunger argues that ineffective global food \ngovernance is one of the causes of worsening global hunger, in addition to issues such \nas the commoditisation of food, climate change effects, the financialisation of \nagriculture and land degradation. The global food governance literature suggests that \nglobal governance is vital to establishing a stable and effective food security regime, \nyet to date, no overall description of the global food governance field exists and the \ndynamics of the field have remained largely unexamined. Bourdieu’s Field Analysis \nis modified and used as a method to map out the current food governance field and \nidentify key actors and their positions, according to measures of economic capital, \npolitical capital and ‘democratic legitimacy’ capital. Four sectors in the field are \ndelineated; the ‘agrifood’ Trans National Corporation sector, the International \nOrganisation sector, the Aid and Charitable Organisation sector and, marginalised at \nthe outer limits of the field, Civil Society Organisations. The dominance of private \nactors in the global food governance space is revealed, and the Field Analysis also \npresents the Gates Foundation as a dominant governor in the field. \nThe results from the Field Analysis are combined with interviews with ten executives \nfrom these sectors to reveal a siloed food governance field with conflicting agendas. \nOne organisation from each sector is also examined by case study to illustrate their \npractices and detail the attribution of the symbolic capitals in the Field Analysis. \nThe problem of food insecurity is then reframed and recommendations are made \nincluding establishing the Right to Food, regulation and scrutiny of agrifood \ncorporations, reform of the food governance field and establishing a new central body \nin the governance space. Some policy recommendations are also made.
Author: Kathryn Smith
Language: English
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2884792384