Civil Society in Sustainability Transitions of Food Systems

Rachael Durrant

Spru DPhil Day conference24/05/11

Civil Society

Food systemsSustainability

The ‘good society’

Associational life or ‘public sphere’

Non-state

Not-for profit

Voluntarism

Globalism & Localism

Health & nutrition

Climate change

Brundtland triad: Environmental integrity, social equity & human wellbeing

Trade justice & development

Food security & food sovereignty

Resource depletion

Poverty

Transition

Reform or revolution

Activism & participation

The theory bit: A multi-level perspective

T im eT im e

L a n d sc a p e d e v e lo p m e n ts p u t p re s su re o n e x is tin g re g im e , w h ic h o p e n s u p , c re a tin g w in d o w s o f o p p o rtu n ity fo r n o v e lt ie s

S o c io - te c h n ic a l re g im e is ‘d y n a m ic a lly s ta b le ’.O n d iffe re n t d im e n s io n s th e re a re o n g o in g p ro c e ss e s

N e w c o n f ig u ra tio n b re a k s th ro u g h , ta k in ga d v a n ta g e o f ‘w in d o w s o f o p p o rtu n ity ’ . A d ju s tm e n ts o c c u r in s o c io - te c h n ic a l re g im e .

E le m e n ts a re g ra d u a lly l in k e d to g e th e r,a n d s ta b ilis e in a d o m in a n t d e s ig n .In te rn a l m o m e n tu m in c re a se s .

L e a rn in g p ro c e s se s ta k e p la c e o n m u ltip le d im e n s io n s .D iffe re n t e le m e n ts a re g ra d u a lly l in k e d to g e th e r in a se a m le s s w e b .

N e w s o c io - te c h n ic a lre g im e in f lu e n c e s la n d s c a p e

Techno log ica ln ich es

Soc io -techn ica l’land scape

Soc io -tech n ica lreg im e

Te c h n o lo g y

M a rk e ts , u se r p re fe re n c e s

C u ltu reP o lic y

S c ie n c eIn d u s try

Source: Geels (2002)

Case A: Grassroots Innovations

Transition contexts

Case B: Regime Contestation

Research questionsDiscourse and perception• How do civil society actors perceive the future of food systems?• How do they perceive themselves in relation to this and to each other? • What are the underlying discourses that structure these perceptions? • To what extent do these discourses influence the strategies for action

employed by civil society actors?

Diffusion• How do some representations come to prevail over others? • Under what conditions do these representations and innovations

diffuse into the regime? • How, and by whom, is their diffusion empowered or constrained?• To what extent does diffusion entail modification?• When is this more or less prevalent?

Roles• To what extent does this fit with the key roles found in the literature?• To what extent do actors perform these different roles simultaneously? • How do actors performing these different roles co-exist? • Under what circumstances is the relationship harmonious or

antagonistic?

How do civil society actors contribute towards Sustainability transitions of food systems?

Data gatheringPhase one (6 months)• Literature review• Five exploratory interviews

per case• Exploration of documents

Phase two (12 months)• Up to 15 semi-structured

interviews per case, inc. Q-sort procedure

• Participation and observations of sector events and networks

Data processing/analysis• Quant data from Q-sorts will

be analysed using SPSS• Qualitative data will be

analysed using Nvivo

Civil Society in Sustainability Transitions of Food Systems

Rachael Durrant

Spru DPhil Day conference24/05/11