Peter T. Robbins

The scientists think and the public feels : expert perceptions of the discourse of GM food.

Debates about new technologies, such as crop and food genetic modification (GM), raise pressing questions about the ways ‘experts’ and ‘ nonexperts’ communicate. These debates are dynamic, characterized by many voices contesting numerous storylines. The discoursal features, including language choices and communication strategies, of the GM debate are in some ways taken for granted and in others actively manipulated by participants. Although there are many voices, some have more influence than others. This study makes use of 50 hours of in-depth interviews with GM scientists, nonexperts, and other stakeholders in the GM debate to examine this phenomenon. We uncover rhetorical devices used by scientists to characterize and ultimately undermine participation by non-experts in areas including rationality, knowledge, understanding and objectivity. Scientists engage with ‘the public’ from their own linguistic and social domain, without reflexive confirmation of their own status as part of the public and the citizenry. This raises a number of interesting ironies and contradictions, which are explored in the article. As such, it provides valuable insights into an increasingly important type of discourse.

“Words of mass destruction”: British newspaper coverage of the genetically modified food debate, expert and non-expert reactions

This article reports the findings of a one-year project examining British press coverage of the genetically modified (GM) food debate during the first half of 2003, and both expert and non-expert reactions to that coverage. Two pro-GM newspapers and two anti-GM newspapers were selected for analysis, and all articles mentioning GM during the period in question were stored in a machine readable database. This was then analyzed using corpus linguistic and discourse analytic techniques to reveal recurrent wording, themes and content. This text analysis was complemented by 12 interviews with experts involved in the communication of GM issues, and 12 focus-group sessions in which members of the public reacted to selected newspaper texts and other GM material. Both in the press and in public reaction, the issue of GM was found to be intimately associated with other political events of the time, notably the invasion of Iraq. Except among experts, there was little awareness of the official national debate and issues were approached in more general terms. Pro-GM characterization of the issues as primarily scientific, both by newspapers and experts, was rejected by the anti-GM press and campaigners, and by the focus-group participants. They assessed the issues in a more global frame, rejecting scientists and companies as unreliable. In addition, they linked both US and British GM policy to the invasion of Iraq, and, by analogy, rejected pro-GM arguments as untrustworthy.

Global capitalism and major corporations from the Third World

Most major transnational corporations (TNCs) are domiciled in the First World and are owned and controlled largely by citizens of these countries. On the basis of an analysis of the largest corporations outside the USA by revenues published annually by Fortune magazine since the 1950s, this paper demonstrates that there have been major corporations from the Third World for decades. Most of the literature on Third World TNCs concentrates on the large number of relatively small companies that have operations abroad in low technology sectors. The argument of this paper is that systematic study of major corporations from the Third World is important for debates about the national bourgeoisie, comprador capitalism and the controversy that currently surrounds the contentious concepts of the developmental state and globalization.

Reflexive assessment of practical and holistic sanitation development tools using the rural and peri-urban case of Mexico

Lack of sanitation affects the lives of billions of people worldwide. It is now generally agreed that sustainable solutions to this complex problem require social and cultural factors to be addressed in addition to the habitual economic and technical aspects. Increasingly, sector professionals view the fragmented approaches to sanitation as a limiting factor. This refers to the fragmentation of the knowledge on the subject among often hermetic disciplines and to the distribution of political mandates on sanitation across many institutions, which independently tackle specific aspects of the issue. Holistic approaches have often been suggested as a solution. This paper presents the development of such a holistic approach, designed to assess sanitation development in rural and peri-urban settings. Tested in three Mexican communities, it relies on qualitative research tools to identify critical influences to sanitation development. This article presents generic results about micro and macro-factors affecting sanitation development in Mexican villages, and reflexively examines the research process as well as the strengths and limitations of the approach. The conceptual map developed for each case study successfully highlights the interconnectedness of all factors affecting sanitation development. Despite some weaknesses, these maps constitute a practical assessment tool for interdisciplinary teams deployed in integrated water and sanitation development programs and a valuable didactic tool for training activities.

Global Visions and Globalizing Corporations: an Analysis of Images and Texts from Fortune Global 500 Companies

Transnational corporations (TNCs) have a central role to play in globalization. At the same time, globalization carries risks for the corporation, and not all of those associated with TNCs may support globalization. While much of the globalization literature suggests that corporations are globalizing their production systems, or contributing to a global culture, there is little exploration of how globalization is framed and mediated within the corporate community itself. This article employs a semiotic analysis of images and texts from annual reports of Fortune Global 500 corporations. It argues that globalizing TNCs generate several narratives geared to persuading employees, shareholders, business partners and members of the financial community of the merits of globalization. They can be divided into at least three types geared to brand, industry leadership or organization. The narratives all have common themes to the extent that they are rooted in a customer focus, but they also demonstrate multiple and sometimes ambiguous global aspirations and expectations.

Exploring Central and Eastern Europe’s Biotechnology Landscape

At a time when the human genome has been sequenced advances in the life sciences seem to have great potential for human health, industry and the environment throughout Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Still, for some, potential risks and ethical dilemmas remain, surrounding issues such as the appropriate use of GM crops, stem cells, genetic information, the nature of intellectual property and other challenges that come with EU accession. This book is the first of its kind to bring together experts from across Europe to explore the landscape of current life science policy and industrial development in CEE, including implications for economies, regulatory and legal frameworks, health care, ethics and human rights. It will be essential reading for researchers and students in science and technology studies, development, sociology, politics and law, and those interested in life science development in transition economies.

Life Sciences Innovation in Central and Eastern Europe: Conceptual Frameworks and Contributions

This article outlines analytical frameworks for studying life sciences innovation in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), based on national systems of innovation and the triple helix. The reflexive and evolutionary models of triple helix 1-3 help us in evaluating life sciences innovation in the shift from pre- to post-transition, and are useful in providing a systemic approach that emphasises social institutions over the role of the firm. While pre-transition CEE embodied a linear innovation model rooted in state ownership, after the transition we see the importance of the state as a network organiser, and the productive inputs of multinational corporations. Life sciences innovation in CEE is challenged by path dependency and institutional lock-in established through years of state control, from which it can be difficult to break out. Articles in this special issue highlight the benefits and constraints of new forms of private investment. While there is evidence for cautious optimism in the CEE pharmaceutical industry, quango-run state genome projects have been less successful. Findings on knowledge cultures in Hungarian agbiotech innovation communities help to flesh out the triple helix model. This issue also provides foresight in examining challenges of the central European pharmaceutical industry and open intellectual property regimes being trialed in Canada, which may have relevance for the region as post-transition innovation systems deepen.

Development engineering meets development studies

Abstract The importance of science in development has been increasingly recognised in development discourses and policy since 2000. Engineering is less visible though engineering and engineers are important for the building and maintenance of transport, water, energy, industrial, informatics, urban and health systems. This article aims to investigate why engineering has not received more emphasis, including why development engineering has not been institutionalised like tropical medicine. It explores the nature of engineering in development, highlights recent efforts to headline engineering for development and, using analyses of what engineers know and do inside international development, suggests that its profile and effectiveness is emerging.

Human Life Science and Agricultural Biotechnology in Transition: An Introduction

This chapter provides historical context to the biotechnology landscape of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Under the Soviet system, innovation systems were state-based and extremely interventionist, and during transition there was a policy vacuum and economic instability that threatened their future. However, biotechnological innovation systems have emerged from transition relatively unscathed. Questions remain about how CEE countries engage with new knowledge and conditions that come with EU accession and biotechnology development. It seems that most countries in the region have not embraced the governance agenda and are expert-led, and sometimes are unable to marshal effectively the global context of many technologies, to national scientific, economic and cultural advantage. Contributions to this volume also suggest that the governance dynamics around biotechnologies are similar in many respects to other countries, but are shaped, like in other contexts by national and local politics.

Partnerships and Sustainability in the Tea Industry: A Critical Analysis of Dynamics Between Smallholders and Estates in Tanzania

Tanzania has been undergoing privatization and structural reform since the 1980s. With the dissolution of the Tanzanian Tea Authority (TTA), the parastatal organization concerned with tea development, many smallholder farmers have become reliant on local estates, owned by transnational corporations, for purchasing tea, and providing inputs. Both smallholders and estate managers want smallholder tea production to increase, but a number of barriers prevent this from happening. This research is based on interviews with smallholders and estate managers. It analyzes the obstacles to sustainability and makes a number of suggestions for overcoming them.