Corporate Power in Global Agrifood Governance – Edited by Jennifer Clapp and Doris Fuchs

Corporate Power in Global Agrifood Governance . Cambridge, MA : MIT Press . 312 pages. ISBN 978-0262512374 , $24.00 paperback . Jennifer Clapp and Doris Fuchs ( Eds. ). 2009 . With multinationals situated ever-more prominently in world affairs, Clapp, Fuchs, and colleagues offer a timely assessment of how corporations influence the “norms, rules, and institutions that govern the global food system” (p. 2) and with what implications for sustainability. Through diverse case studies, linked by a common framework, the book documents the pervasive yet varied influence of corporations within agriculture market segments and policy fora. As such, it should be essential reading for policy makers and scholars interested in the future governance of the global food system. Clapp and Fuchs's introductory chapter conceptualizes power as threefold. Instrumental power is the “direct influence of one actor over another . . .” (p. 8) and is wielded by corporations “in the policy process via corporate lobbying or political campaign financing” (p. 8). Structural power captures how corporations can shape agendas and policy options because of their “material position within states and the global economy . . .” (pp. 8–9). Discursive power notes that “power not only pursues interests, but also creates them” (p. 10). It is attuned to corporate arguments that “socialize politicians and the public into accepting ‘truths’ about desirable policies and political developments . . .” (p. 10). Nine chapters assess these facets of power and their implications for sustainability. Part One—corporate power in international retail and trade governance—begins with Fuchs, Kalfagianni, and Arentsen (Chapter 2) investigating food safety and corporate social responsibility standards promulgated by the global retail sector. Questioning the transparency and participatory qualities of the standards, the authors characterize them as discursive tools for reducing regulatory risk and maintaining a loyal customer base. The standards have advanced food-safety objectives; however, the authors question their quality, environmental, and social benefits, raising concerns over north–south equity and negative implications for small producers. With debates about the corporatization of organics, Scott, Vandergeest, and Young (Chapter 3) explore how reliance on agricultural exports, powerful domestic social movements and supermarkets, and government and donor support for organic production mediated this conflict in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand. In these cases, corporations have had success in co-opting organics; yet social movements are reframing the debate to advocate local and small scale as critical for sustainability. Smythe (Chapter 4) examines the Codex Alimentarius Commission's work on a label for genetically modified (GM) food. She shows how domestic commitments for or against GM production shaped the arguments made during negotiations. Those opposing labeling privileged scientific arguments that no proof exists for differences between GM and non-GM foods; those favoring labeling emphasized uncertainty, a need for transparency, and consumers’ rights to know. Noting the negative environmental, social, and economic impacts of in-kind food aid, Clapp (Chapter 5) examines continued U.S. support for this form of aid. She shows how U.S. political institutions and interest-group lobbying (nongovernmental organizations and corporate) perpetuate the policy, and particularly, how corporations profiting from food-aid sales are structurally empowered due to their historical importance to the U.S. economy. Part Two—corporations and the governance of genetically modified organisms (GMOs)—begins with Williams (Chapter 6) identifying two pro-biotech frames. One links biotech to food security by asserting that it can ameliorate hunger and malnutrition. Another holds that biotech reduces per-unit inputs for agricultural production and thus enhances environmental sustainability. These are examined and contextualized within broader trends in the political economy of agricultural production and the experiences of African farmers. Sell (Chapter 7) examines corporate power in international processes defining intellectual property rights. She argues that their complexity affords the opportunities for strategic forum shifting, which disadvantages developing countries relative to developed countries and corporations. Still, she notes certain counter discourses and intellectual property rights models that may, over time, help counter corporate dominance and power in this area. Building on the idea of leveraging change, Falkner (Chapter 8) focuses on business conflict and reveals how retailers, farmers, and traders disagreed with the biotech sector about the development of GM foods. These conflicts, Falkner argues, provide leverage to influence the future “direction of GM crop commercialization . . .” (p. 247). Using Argentina as a case, Newell (Chapter 9) counters that while business conflict has affected the country's policies, corporations still work cooperatively to advance common interests. Noting that contestation over biotech has not questioned continued GM production, Newell cautions against seeing business-conflict as a panacea. The book's analysis uncovers at least three areas meriting future research. First, more can be done to examine corporate power in relation to sustainability. Certain chapters did this well, but overall the relationship was not tackled systematically. Second, the book provides preliminary hypotheses for how the forms of power interplay. Sell posits that structural and instrumental powers dominate when effective frames countering corporate interests exist (p. 188). Clapp and Fuchs suggest that information-age technologies and resource asymmetries favoring corporations make discursive power paramount. Its “diffusion nature and low visibility” mean it is “difficult to contest for those with fewer resources” (p. 293). These warrant further examination. Finally, the book's arguments could be usefully explored in comparative settings to probe how and whether the nature and strength of corporate power is mediated by the features of different policy issues and political fora.

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