1st Edition

Agricultural Governance Globalization and the New Politics of Regulation

Edited By Vaughan Higgins, Geoffrey Lawrence Copyright 2005
    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    228 Pages
    by Routledge

    Food security and sustainability are arguably the most important issues facing the agri-food sector at the beginning of a new millennium. In an era of globalization, where nation states appear to have a diminishing role in governing these matters, the existing and emerging power relations underpinning agri-food regulation demand renewed scholarly attention.

    Drawing upon the expertise of some of the most prominent writers in rural sociology, geography and anthropology, this book shows how globalization processes open up a new regulatory politics in which ‘non-political’ forms of governing play an increasingly influential role in shaping agricultural production and consumption.

    The first of its kind to critically and comprehensively examine new forms of governing and regulation, this important text explores the relationship between globalization and new sites, spaces and agents of agricultural regulation, using detailed case studies in developed nations to illustrate points made. Demonstrating the political significance of regulatory mechanisms extending beyond the state, the book also discusses the consequences for the governing of the agri-food sector.

    1. Introduction: Globalization and Agricultural Governance  Part 1: (Re)Regulating Spaces  2. Globalization and Global Governance  3. Reshaping the State: Global/Local Networks of Association and the Governing of Agricultural Production  4. Rural Development and Agri-Food Governing in Europe: Tracing the Development of Alternatives  Part 2: (De)Politicizing Practices  5. Reshaping the Agrifood System: The Role of Standards, Standard Makers, and Third-Party Certifiers  6. Disciplining the Organic Commodity  7. Governing Conflicts over Sustainability: Agricultural Biotechnology in Europe  8. Governing Agriculture through the Managerial Capacities of Farmers: The Role of Calculation  Part 3: (Re)Configuring Objects And Subjects Of Governing  9. Sustainability and Agri-Environmental Governance  10. Governing Consumption: Mobilizing ‘the Consumer’ within Genetically-Modified and Organic Food Networks  11. Animals and Ambivalence: Governing Farm Animal Welfare in the European Food Sector  12. Expertise and the Calculability of Agri-Food Risks

    Biography

    Vaughan Higgins is a lecturer in Sociology at Monash University, Australia. His areas of research include agricultural regulation and the role of new technologies in rural governing.

    Geoffrey Lawrence is Professor of Sociology and Head of the School of Social Science at the University of Queensland, Brisbane. His work spans the areas of rural and regional development, globalization and localization, and social aspects of natural resource management.