Sating hunger in an age of plenty : the global food governance space and its role in the establishment of an effective food security regime
Abstract
Contextualised in food security literature and globalisation literature and NGO and
agency reports on food security, Sating Hunger argues that ineffective global food
governance is one of the causes of worsening global hunger, in addition to issues such
as the commoditisation of food, climate change effects, the financialisation of
agriculture and land degradation. The global food governance literature suggests that
global governance is vital to establishing a stable and effective food security regime,
yet to date, no overall description of the global food governance field exists and the
dynamics of the field have remained largely unexamined. Bourdieu’s Field Analysis
is modified and used as a method to map out the current food governance field and
identify key actors and their positions, according to measures of economic capital,
political capital and ‘democratic legitimacy’ capital. Four sectors in the field are
delineated; the ‘agrifood’ Trans National Corporation sector, the International
Organisation sector, the Aid and Charitable Organisation sector and, marginalised at
the outer limits of the field, Civil Society Organisations. The dominance of private
actors in the global food governance space is revealed, and the Field Analysis also
presents the Gates Foundation as a dominant governor in the field.
The results from the Field Analysis are combined with interviews with ten executives
from these sectors to reveal a siloed food governance field with conflicting agendas.
One organisation from each sector is also examined by case study to illustrate their
practices and detail the attribution of the symbolic capitals in the Field Analysis.
The problem of food insecurity is then reframed and recommendations are made
including establishing the Right to Food, regulation and scrutiny of agrifood
corporations, reform of the food governance field and establishing a new central body
in the governance space. Some policy recommendations are also made.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
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