At the latest Global Governance Colloquium, co-sponsored by the Centre for International Environmental Studies, Birgit Müller explored how ‘land grabbing’ by private investors (and sometimes foreign states) can be regulated and made more accountable globally.
Between 2007-2008 increasing prices for important cereal crops precipitated a global food crisis which had social, political and economic ramifications. Developing countries were particularly affected.
During those developments, and in the years that followed, important questions were raised about agricultural policymaking and the regulatory dynamics within this issue domain at different levels of governance.
It is in this context in particular that agricultural investments matter. They reconfigure land ownership and agricultural practices at the local level and demand regulation and accountability at the global level.
On 24 November 2020, we welcomed Birgit Müller, Director of Research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), who presented on the topic, “Responsible agricultural investments. How are agricultural futures governed at the international level?”
In her exploration of what influences government positions on responsible agricultural investments in international negotiation fora, like at the Committee for Food Security, Prof. Müller demonstrated the operation of two distinct governance modalities that are favoured by different governance actors: governance through human rights based on multilateral processes, and autonomous corporate self-governance.
Her research reveals that while such negotiations first appear rather mundane and technical, they also uncover a fundamental problem of contemporary international governance: the weakening role of the multilateral institutions of the United Nations and the rise of autonomous instruments - promoted by states and private actors - that do not benefit from the same type of legitimacy.
Shaila Seshia Galvin, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Sociology at the Graduate Institute kicked off the discussions. Prof. Galvin’s insightful comments emphasized in particular the different types of politics that emerge around the international negotiations on responsible agricultural investment, exploring further constitutive and procedural questions.
The online event, which was co-sponsored by the Graduate Institute’s Centre for International Environmental Studies, wrapped up the Global Governance Colloquium series for the 2020 Autumn semester.