© Presseamt Münster - Angelika Klauser

Corporate Power and Private Governance in global Food Policy

Current norms and regulations in global foodstuffs and agrarian policy are being restructures to adapt to an increasingly globalized food production chain and concentration of food trade. Up to today, policy relating to foodstuffs and agrarian policy have been the product of individual states governments. However, these processes are increasingly being dominated by private actors, who not only have the potential to influence the decision-making process but also are in a position to implement their own rules and regulations through private measures of regulation such as private standards and corporate social responsability (CSR). Herewith, they not only influence their own actions but also regulate other actors who participate in the process' actions. The globalization of the agrarian and food system has been discussed for a while in the academic context. Nevertheless, little focus has been given to the impacts of private governance on the sustainability and legitimacy of global food policy. There have been very few insights into the question on the influence of transnational corporations on the norms and aims of global food policy. Moreover, it is still to be determined what new challenges these developments will create for global food policy and how these problems can be overcome. These are the central questions facing the team at the Chair for International Relations and Development Policy within the framework to research on global agrarian and food governance.

Selected publications in this field:

  • Kalfagianni, Agni, und Doris Fuchs. 2015. „The Effectiveness of Private Food Governance in Fostering Sustainable Development“. In Havinga, Tetty, Frans van Warden, und donal Casey (Hrsg.). The Changing Landscape of Food Governance. Public and Private Encounters. London: Routledge, 134-152.
  • Feist, Marian, und Doris Fuchs. 2014. „Was heißt hier nachhaltig? - Finanzialisierung als diskursive Konstruktion am Beispiel der Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation von Banken“. In Heires, Marcel, und Andreas Nölke (Hrsg.). Politische Ökonomie der Finanzialisierung. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag, 225-240.
  • Fuchs, Doris, Richard Meyer-Eppler, und Ulrich Hamenstädt. 2013. „Food for Thought: The Politics of Financialization in the Global Agrifood System”. Competition & Change 17 (3): 219-233.
  • Feist, Marian, und Doris Fuchs. 2013. „Agrarpolitik und Ernährungssicherheit im Strudel der Finanzkrise. Zeitschrift für Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik ZfAS 6 (1): 197-209.
  • Fuchs, Doris, und Frederike Boll. 2012. „Emerging Private Voluntary Programs and Climate Change: The Blind-Spots of the Agrifood Sector”. In Ronit, Karsten (Hrsg.). Private Voluntary Programs in Global Climate Policy: Pitfalls and Potentials. New York: United Nations University Press, 143-178.
  • Fuchs, Doris, Agni Kalfagianni und Tetty Havinga. 2011. „Actors in Private Food Governance. The Legitimacy of Retail Standards and Multistakeholder Initiatives with Civil Society Participation“. Agriculture and Human Values 28 (3): 353-367.
  • Fuchs, Doris, und Katharina Glaab. 2011. „Material Power and Normative Conflict in Global and Local Agrifood Governance: The Lessons of ‘Golden Rice’ in India”. Food Policy 36 (6): 729-735.
  • Clapp, Jennifer, and Doris Fuchs (eds.). 2009. Corporate Power in Global Agrifood Governance, Boston: MIT Press.
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  • Fuchs, Doris, and Agni Kalfagianni. 2009. The "Democratic Legitimacy of Private Authority in the Food Chain", in Tony Porter and Karsten Ronit (eds.). The Challenges of Global Business Authority: Democratic Renewal, Stalement or Decay?, New York: SUNY Press.
  • Fuchs, Doris, and Agni Kalfagianni. 2009. "Private Food Governance and Implications for Social Sustainability and Democratic Legitimacy", in Peter Utting and José Carlos Marques (eds.). Business, Social Policy and Corporate Political Influence in Developing Countries, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

International Conference on "Private Governance in the Global Agrifood System” in April 2008 financed by the Volkswagen Foundation

Individual contributions to the conference will be published in form of a symposium on private regulations in global food policy in the journal Agriculture and Human Values. The conference's most important results were summarized in a discussion paper (Sustainable Governance Discussion Paper 01/2009).

Individual Contributions to the Conference:

  • Doris Fuchs (University of Münster), Agni Kalfagianni (University of Stuttgart) and Jennifer Clapp (University of Waterloo): Private Governance in the Global Agro-Food System. A Framework for Analysis. Download
  • Catia Gregoratti (University of Manchester): Global Nuts and Local Mangoes - The limits and potential of the UNDP’s Growing Sustainable Business Initiative in Kenya. Download
  • Anne Tallontire (University of Leeds): Beyond the vertical: An evolving framework for understanding the governance of private standards initiatives standards in the agrifood chain. Download
  • Doris Fuchs (University of Münster) and Agni Kalfagianni (University of Stuttgart): Actors in Private Food Governance: The Legitimacy of Retail Standards and the Marine Stewardship Council. 
  • Lena Partzsch (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research): Private Governance in the Biofuel Industry. Download
  • Christopher Kaan (Free University, Berlin) and Andrea Liese (Humboldt University, Berlin): Public Private Partnerships in Global Food Governance. Download
  • Martha McMahon (University of Victoria): Local Food and Small Women Farmers. Download
  • Lawrence Busch (Michigan State University): The Private Governance of Food: Equitable Exchange or Bizarre Bazaar? Download
  • Sylvia Lorek (Sustainable Europe Research Institute): The Influence of Civil Society Initiatives for the Development of Business Standards. Download
  • Tetty Havinga (University of Nijmegen): Actors in private food regulation: Taking responsibility or passing the buck to someone else? Download
  • Steffanie Scott (University of Waterloo), Peter Vandergeest (York University, Canada), Mary Young (York University, Canada): Certification Standards and the Governance of Green Foods in Southeast Asia. Download
  • Atul Sood (Jawaharlal Nehru University): State-Business Relations in India. Corporatisation of Food Governance. Download
  • Nicolien van der Grijp (University Amsterdam): Pesticide risk reduction and the dynamics of legal pluralism. Download
  • Sarah Wright (University of Newcastle, Australia): Building Networks of Food Sovereignty in South and Southeast Asia. Download