| This research uses discourse analysis to critically examine the convergences and divergences in the post-2007-08 food crisis discourses on food security and sovereignty of two international organizations active in global food security governance, the FAO and Via Campesina. Rooted in the critical agri-food studies literature, which adopts a multidimensional approach to the challenges of the global food system, and drawing on critical political economy and global governance frameworks, this research is premised on the assumption that it is important that the global food security governance regime, as represented by the FAO, take into account many of the concerns of the Via Campesina with respect to a focus on rights, agency, participation, and transparency. It is shown that the two organizations have many commonalities relating to calls for improved governance of international agricultural trade, improved regional level governance, and in the role for states in encouraging global food security governance solutions. This research also reveals that shifts in the global discourses surrounding food security are taking place, there are now significant divergences between the two organizations in terms of approaches to agency and vulnerability, the role of current multilateral institutions, and the right to define the means through which ones food is produced, which in turn represent fundamental differences in norms and principles that frame each organization's participation in food security initiatives. These differences, along with powerful hegemonic structures, currently limit the possibility for change in line with food sovereignty objectives to occur. Furthermore, it is shown that intelligent agency will be an important component of any possibility for moving the food security regime forward towards the more progressive food security and sovereignty directions envisioned by the Via Campesina. In the long-term, it is this intelligent agency which may be able to bring about the participation, inclusivity, and the type of rational discourse seen as needed in order to bring about more coherent, comprehensive global food security governance, and a more food secure world. |
