Doris Fuchs

The Causes and Consequences of Private Food Governance

This paper investigates the creation and consequences of private regulation in global food governance. It points to the power to govern and the authority to govern as the two crucial conditions for the emergence and diffusion of private food regulation. More specifically, the paper argues that the power to govern is a function of the structural power of agrifood corporations, particularly retail food corporations in our case. The authority to govern is a function of the perceived legitimacy of retail food corporations as political actors. By linking power and authority to the material and ideational structures existing in the global political economy of food, this paper analyses the processes that serve to create, maintain and reproduce private regulation in food governance. With its analysis, the paper aims to contribute to the theoretical and empirical debates on private authority, private regulation and the challenges for sustainability in the global food system.

Green electricity in the market place: the policy challenge

The paper explores the implications of the liberalization of electricity markets in Europe and North America for policy means and mechanisms to enhance the market penetration of renewables. Applying a (co-) evolutionary approach, the argument highlights the need for policy intervention to help producers and consumers move out of technological trajectories favoring non-renewable electricity. On the production side, energy generation is locked into the central power station system deriving from more than a hundred years of technological development along a specific system trajectory. On the consumption side, the locked-in effect results from a similarly long experience with electricity provision by monopoly suppliers and the associated lack of consumer choice and responsibility for product differentiation. As the analysis shows, policy strategies targeting both the production and consumption sides of the electricity market are needed for effective intervention. Furthermore, policy strategies should draw on a clear analysis of the inertia and dynamism underlying the production and consumption of electricity. In the light of such evolutionary dynamics, the analysis demonstrates the insufficiency of the policy approaches currently employed to foster the market share of renewables based electricity. Instead, the authors suggest a reflexive policy approach to initiate and support a reorientation towards green electricity, emphasizing the need for learning and communication between and among societal actors.

The greening of industry: needs of the field

This article takes stock of some of the advances research on the greening of industry has made over the last decade and sets out an agenda for the next one. Obviously, a thorough review of all of the work on the greening of industry is outside the scope of this article. Instead we will only outline the evolution of the field and focus on the area of inquiry situated at the centre of greening of industry studies: the determinants and consequences of greening. These two questions were the focus of some of the first greening of industry studies and a multitude of works, especially on the determinants of greening, subsequently has identified numerous important insights. Yet, this area of inquiry also exemplifies major weaknesses within research in data on the greening of industry. Progress in our understanding of greening has been hampered by a lack of theoretical and methodological rigour. This article points out the resulting gaps in the scientific analysis of greening and lays out research necessary to improve our understanding of its causes and consequences.

Sustainable Consumption Governance in a Globalizing World

Our paper explores the implications of globalization for sustainable consump tion governance. It draws its central findings from a structured inquiry into the implications of globalization for the sustainability of household consumption. Our focus is on industrialized countries and the two consumption clusters food and mobility, which previous research has identified as priority areas for intervention. We find that for both food and mobility, globalization exerts a substantial influence on the sustainability of consumption through similar channels. Moreover, a significant part of this influence is exerted indirectly, i.e. affects prior determinants ofthe sustainability of household consumption rather than household consumption choices themselves. Based on our analysis, we suggest guidelines for the development of governance strategies in pursuit of sustain able consumption. In terms of general guidelines, we highlight the need for multilateral ifnot global strategies, as well as a comprehensive targeting of direct and indirect influences of globalization. Furthermore, we emphasize that governance strategies should pay particular attention to opportunities arising from the positive influences of globalization on the sustainability of consumption. In terms of specific guidelines, we argue that governance efforts should pay special attention to agricultural production conditions as well as transport options, as those pivotal determinants ofthe sustainability offood and mobility consumption are influenced by almost all ofthe elements of globalization. Likewise, we suggest that governance strategies need to address capital concentration, in particular, since the latter can be shown to influence almost all ofthe determinants of the sustainability of consumption. Copyright (c) 2002 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Our paper explores the implications of globalization for sustainable consump tion governance. It draws its central findings from a structured inquiry into the implications of globalization for the sustainability of household consumption. Our focus is on industrialized countries and the two consumption clusters food and mobility, which previous research has identified as priority areas for intervention. We find that for both food and mobility, globalization exerts a substantial influence on the sustainability of consumption through similar channels. Moreover, a significant part of this influence is exerted indirectly, i.e. affects prior determinants ofthe sustainability of household consumption rather than household consumption choices themselves. Based on our analysis, we suggest guidelines for the development of governance strategies in pursuit of sustain able consumption. In terms of general guidelines, we highlight the need for multilateral ifnot global strategies, as well as a comprehensive targeting of direct and indirect influences of globalization. Furthermore, we emphasize that governance strategies should pay particular attention to opportunities arising from the positive influences of globalization on the sustainability of consumption. In terms of specific guidelines, we argue that governance efforts should pay special attention to agricultural production conditions as well as transport options, as those pivotal determinants ofthe sustainability offood and mobility consumption are influenced by almost all ofthe elements of globalization. Likewise, we suggest that governance strategies need to address capital concentration, in particular, since the latter can be shown to influence almost all ofthe determinants of the sustainability of consumption.

Philanthropy: power with in international relations

In international relations, a long list of private donors has joined governments in addressing global problems and their financial contributions are mind-boggling. We argue that the transformational potential of philanthropists such as Bill and Melinda Gates and Michael Otto relies largely on mechanisms of power with others, i.e. cooperation and learning. There are situations in which power is neither attributed solely to A nor to B, but to both. Comparing the cases of Gates and Otto, however, we simultaneously emphasize that power with is not exercised independently from power over dimensions. If we simply assume philanthropists to be do-gooders, we may become inattentive to often hidden or invisible conflicts of interests and values.

Food for Thought: The Politics of Financialization in the Agrifood System

A number of scholars have started to investigate issues specifically associated with financialization in the agrifood sector. This article draws on this literature to map the dimensions of financialization and their interaction at different levels. In contrast to studies that have emphasized the economic preconditions and consequences of the financialization of agrifood, we are interested in the political forces and processes behind these developments. Our argument intends to demonstrate that the politics of financialization take a pervasive and multi-faceted form. Indeed, if one wants to identify and assess what drives and facilitates financialization and its diffusion, one needs to study political developments at all societal and political levels and in a variety of shapes and forms. In consequence, this analysis also serves to highlight the challenges involved for anyone aiming to foster a definancialization of the global agrifood system or of the global economic system as such.

Globalisierung und Global Governance

In der Disziplin der Internationalen Beziehungen (IB) gab es bislang nicht viele Themen, die derart im Zentrum intensiv und kontrovers gefuhrter Auseinandersetzungen standen wie „Globalisierung“. Seit Mitte der 1990er Jahre die Zahl der Veroffentlichungen zu diesem Forschungsgegenstand regelrecht explodierte (vgl. Busch 1999; Scholte 2000a), ist Globalisierung so etwas wie das Referenzphanomen in den IB. Dabei hat Globalisierung dem Fach nicht nur neue Gegenstandsbereiche erschlossen, sondern beeinflusst auch traditionelle Themengebiete, wie z.B. Krieg und Frieden, Entwicklungspolitik oder internationale Institutionen. Daruber hinaus beschaftigen sich andere politikwissenschaftliche Subdisziplinen wie die Politische Theorie oder die Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft in vielfaltiger Weise ebenfalls mit der Globalisierung.

Private Food Governance: Implications for Social Sustainability and Democratic Legitimacy

The global food system and its governance have important implications for the question of sustainability. Engaging over half of the world’s population, agricultural production provides a livelihood for a major proportion of people on the planet, and food is a commodity that touches us all as consumers. Food production and trade, moreover, have important implications for socioeconomic outcomes and, depending on their organization and distribution, can work to either enhance or detract from economic opportunities and environmental and social living conditions.

The Role of Business in Global Governance

The core idea of the global governance debate is that political and economic changes associated with globalization have led to shifts in political capacity. Specifically, scholars argue that the state has been losing political capacity to non-state and supra-state actors (Messner and Nuscheler 1996). Among these, business plays a special role. In the view of many observers, business (in particular large transnational corporations) is among the primary beneficiaries if not causes of the ‘decline of the state’ (Fuchs 2002).1 Yet, there is little systematic analysis of the political role of business in this globalizing world. Two debates attempt to shed some light on different facets of this role. What is missing so far, however, is a systematic integration of their findings as well as an embedding of arguments and evidence in a sound theoretical framework.

Private agri-food governance and the challenges for sustainability

In the past few decades, transnational corporations (TNCs) have become pivotal actors in agri-food governance of sustainable development. Their remarkable growth in both number and size as well as their global reach have made them particularly attractive partners for governments and civil society organisations aiming to foster environmental and social goals by harnessing market forces. In this context, the development of standards and certification schemes that prescribe and monitor environmental and socially responsible behaviour in agri-food supply chains increasingly involves the participation of TNCs. While TNC involvement in sustainable agri-food governance has the potential to achieve great benefits by transforming the market from within, it might also come at a cost. Accordingly, this contribution explores the effects of TNC endorsement of private agri-food sustainability initiatives. Adopting a critical perspective, this contribution argues that while some positive consequences can be identified, for example, a larger penetration of the mainstream market, TNC involvement in agri-food governance will likely also lead to the development of less stringent, comprehensive and inclusive standards. Moreover, the mechanisms with which sustainable development objectives are constituted and implemented by TNCs risk changing the fundamental principles and ideas of sustainable development as equitable and participatory governance. The chapter illustrates its argument with an examination of TNC involvement in a select number of initiatives.