Food Security Governance: Empowering Communities, Regulating Corporations PDF
Preview Food Security Governance: Empowering Communities, Regulating Corporations
FOOD SECURITY GOVERNANCE This book fi lls a gap in the literature by setting food security in the context of evolving global food governance. Today’s food system generates hunger alongside food waste, burgeoning health problems, and massive greenhouse gas emissions. Applying food system analysis to review how the international community has addressed food issues since World War II, this book proceeds to explain how actors link up in corporate global food chains and in the local food systems that feed most of the world’s population. It unpacks relevant paradigms – from productivism to food sovereignty – and high- lights the signifi cance of adopting a rights-based approach to solving food prob- lems. The author describes how communities around the world are protecting their access to resources and building better ways of producing and accessing food. She discusses the reformed Committee on World Food Security, a uniquely inclu- sive global policy forum, and how it could be supportive of efforts from the base. The book concludes by identifying terrains on which work is needed to adapt the practice of the democratic public sphere and accountable governance to a global dimension and extend its authority to the world of markets and corporations. Food Security Governance will be of interest to students of food security, global governance, development studies, and critical security studies in general. Nora McKeon is engaged in teaching, writing, and advocacy on food issues and social movements, following a career at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. She is the author of G lobal Governance for World Food Security (2011), The United Nations and Civil Society (2009), and P easant Organiza- tions (2004). Routledge Critical Security Studies Series Titles in this series include : Securing Outer Space Edited by Natalie Bormann and Michael Sheehan Critique, Security and Power The political limits to emancipatory approaches Tara McCormack Gender, Human Security and the United Nations Security language as a political framework for women Natalie Florea Hudson The Struggle for the West A divided and contested legacy Christopher S. Browning and Marko Lehti Gender and International Security Feminist perspectives Edited by Laura Sjoberg Reimagining War in the 21st Century From Clausewitz to network-centric warfare Manabrata Guha The New Spatiality of Security Operational uncertainty and the US military in Iraq Caroline M. Croser Human Security as Statecraft Structural conditions, articulations and unintended consequences Nik Hynek US Domestic and International Regimes of Security Pacifying the globe, securing the homeland Markus Kienscherf Securitisation and the Iraq War The rules of engagement in world politics Faye Donnelly Ethics and Global Security A cosmopolitan approach Anthony Burke, Katrina Lee Koo, Matt McDonald (In-)Security and the Production of International Relations Securitisation and the making of foreign affairs in Europe Jonas Hagmann Food Security Governance Empowering communities, regulating corporations Nora McKeon Biopolitics, Governmentality and Humanitarianism ‘Caring’ for the population in Afghanistan and Belarus Volha Piotukh “There are few people who have been involved in grassroots efforts to transform the global food system, been veterans of international organizations, and still been able to imagine compatibility between the two. Yet Nora McKeon’s subtle analysis, with its centerpiece examination of the history and possibilities of the Committee on World Food Security, is required reading for those who feel the trenches dug by governments and civil society can never move. It’s a wonderfully readable account of the world food crisis, distinguished by its grounded faith in the capacity of organizations – of people and governments – to prevent future hunger”. —Raj Patel, University of Texas at Austin, USA, and author of Stuffed and Starved and The Value of Nothing “Global food governance is at crossroads. The rich world is over-consuming; the poor continue to lose out; meanwhile global systems of governance have not fully risen to the challenge. This book is an overdue account of the fi ght over reform. It is a fi ne reminder that food democracy is the key to feeding everyone equitably, healthily, affordably, and sustainably.” — Tim Lang, City University, London, UK “At such an uncertain time in global food provisioning, Nora McKeon’s book offers an exceptional perspective. Not only does she evaluate the organization and politics of the world’s food systems with erudition, but also she provides brilliant practitioner insights from within the UN Committee on World Food Security and the Food Sovereignty movement. The result is a lively account of food system cri- sis, competing paradigms and new questions of governance in an accessible and forward-looking analysis.” — Philip McMichael, Cornell University, USA “Nora McKeon does a superb job at describing how governments have allowed markets and corporations to take control of food systems, and which tools could be used to provide healthier diets, ensure greater resilience, and empower communi- ties. Building on her unmatched experience working both with farmers’ organisa- tions and with international institutions, she brings us into how global governance of food security is shaped, and why food democracy matters: an illuminating and eye-opening journey.” — Olivier De Schutter, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food “Nora McKeon understands the Byzantine world of global food politics better than anyone I know – f rom inside the Rome-based agencies and from outside. She has put herself on the line time after time and has earned enormous respect for her intelligence and integrity. Everyone fi ghting for Food Sovereignty has to read this book.” — Pat Mooney, ETC Group “Brilliant! An eye-opening tour of the march to democratize global food gover- nance. Discover the other side of corporate globalization as social movements gain a voice at the table. With the eyes of a veteran insider and the mind of an astute ana- lyst, McKeon offers powerful insights. A must-read for all who want to go beyond competing “issues” to governance itself – and real solutions.” — Frances Moore Lappé, author of Diet for a Small Planet “The far-reaching implications of food governance – l ocal and global – a re tren- chantly addressed in this impeccably researched book. Nora McKeon brings decades of engagement with farmers’ movements, multilateral agencies, and academia to bear on the question of how the dysfunctional global food system can be transformed through citizens’ concerted action. A must-read for food activists seeking to go beyond slogans, techno-administrative fi xes, or business as usual into the realm of active, popular democracy.” — Eric Holt-Giménez, Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy “Nora McKeon, with her long professional experience and transdisciplinary approach, takes us admirably through the various components, contradictions, and controversies of food systems governance, both at global and local scale. This insightful book is an essential guide for anyone who wants to understand the social and political dynamics of the food systems in the contemporary capitalist world-economy.” — Pasquale De Muro, Roma Tre University, Italy “Nora McKeon’s book is a must-read for both social activists and academics involved in the realms of agriculture, food, justice, and social movements. But it is equally an accessible and highly informative source for interested members of the general public.” — Jan Douwe van der Ploeg, Wageningen University, The Netherlands “The author weaves together a complex landscape of policies, activities, and levels of food security governance. Opinions differ because of the ideologies of the con- stituencies, but in all those controversies, small producers of food are pivotal to end- ing hunger, malnutrition, and extreme poverty. Nora, thank you for this effort.” —Yaya Adissa Olaitan Olaniran, Former Chair, Committee on World Food Security (CFS), Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the UN Agencies of Food and Agriculture FOOD SECURITY GOVERNANCE Empowering communities, regulating corporations Nora McKeon First published 2015 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2015 Nora McKeon The right of Nora McKeon to be identifi ed as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data McKeon, Nora. Food security governance : empowering communities, regulating corporations / Nora McKeon. pages cm.—(Routledge critical security studies series) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Food security. 2. Food supply—International cooperation. I. Title. HD9000.5.M3695 2015 363.8—dc23 2014030092 ISBN: 978-0-415-52909-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-415-52910-5 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-88252-9 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by Apex CoVantage, LLC To my families – original, created, extended – the premise for all I know about community and governance. This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS List of fi gures, tables, and boxes xi List of acronyms and abbreviations xv Introduction 1 1 Food governance: a rapid historical review 11 2 Food provision in a globalized world 31 3 What’s in a paradigm? Food security, food sovereignty, and evidence-based decision making 69 4 Reactions to the food price crisis and the challenge of rethinking global food governance 89 5 Local–global: building food governance from the bottom up 112 6 Building a better food system from the top reaching downward 156 7 Where to now? 193 Bibliography 215 Index 241 This page intentionally left blank
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