Scope

Social Movements, Institutions and Governance, a specialty section of Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, publishes original, peer-reviewed research, critical reviews and dialogues, and policy analyses on topics exploring the social, political, and institutional drivers of food system transformation.  We are an interdisciplinary and methodologically diverse section that welcomes work based on transdisciplinary, case study, qualitative and quantitative, and ethnographic methodologies.

As food systems are increasingly globalized, the multi-scalar drivers of food system transformation have deep roots in social and political institutions from the household level to national policies, extending through global organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization.  At the same time, grassroots social movements, civil society organizations and agrarian networks across the globe challenge the implementation of neoliberal policy frameworks and institutional arrangements that they argue fail to provide a sustainable and equitable food system.  There is a need to more critically examine the social and political drivers and outcomes associated with globally dominant forms of agriculture and food policy and practice, while at the same time assessing the potential of alternative models of food system transformation to deliver food security without increasing environmental degradation or social inequity.

We are particularly interested in papers that explore transformation in food systems governance.  E.g. Whose knowledge counts in ‘evidence-based decision making’ about food policy and practice in areas such as agricultural production systems, trade, land use governance, land reform, nutrition, public procurement initiatives, food security and food sovereignty?  What are the distinct arguments of different social, economic, and political institutions for promoting the implementation of food systems based on agroecology, sustainable intensification, conventional, cellular, organic, digital or other forms of agriculture?  What are the social and economic outcomes of different modes of practice and governance in food systems? What is the role of citizen science in epistemic debates about best practices in food systems governance?  How are traditional and Indigenous knowledge recognized in food policy debates, and how are traditional rights to seeds, knowledge, and land protected under contemporary food regulatory regimes? How do institutions such as gender, race and ethnicity, social class, education, and household dynamics contribute to patterns of food production and consumption, and how are these institutions transformed? Finally, how do different governance models contribute to sustainable food systems re-design? 

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