06 Apr Call for Papers – Reclaiming the political: Reflections on the tactics and strategies of actors in the quest for just and sustainable food governance

Abstract:
Food security is a “wicked” development problem which is deeply political and for which there is no single solution. Re-imagining how to reshape the existing governance arrangements that have facilitated a world where more than one billion people are obese, and almost another one billion are under-nourished at a time of increased resource scarcity and climate change, requires deliberate and committed politicization of related policies.
One challenge is that while development is inherently political the governance arrangements (formal and informal) that coordinate development practices are often organised in ways that have de-policising effects. More concretely, when it comes to food security governance trends towards multi-stakeholder platforms, data-driven indicators with related monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and consensus-based decision-making processes, serve to conceal relations of power and the agendas of particular actors in the name of consultation, technocracy, and democracy.
This panel invites papers that:
– Identify and analyse ways in which actors, especially civil society and social movements insert politics and issues of power into governance spaces;
– Reflect on similarities, differences and interconnections across the practices, tactics and strategies used by actors to politicise the space and to push for alternatives to the dominant food systems.
– Comment and advance theorizing on emerging trends across the debates of food governance and the potential of civil society to envisage alternative scenarios and affect the policy process.

For more information, and to submit an abstract click here

Call for papers is 21 March to 25 April, so submit soon!

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