Food regimes
Encyclopedia
Food regime theory is a broadly Marxist approach to theorising food systems
. It was developed in the late 1980s by Harriet Friedmann and Philip McMichael. Food regime analysis is concerned with explaining, and therefore politicising, the strategic role of agriculture in the construction and development of the world capitalist economy. As a framework, it takes an historical view in order to identify stable periods of capital accumulation associated with particular configurations of geopolitical power and forms of agricultural production and consumption. Its theoretical roots are in French Regulation Theory
and World Systems Theory
.
With its Marxist influences, food regime theorists are also interested in how moments of crisis within a particular configuration are expressive of the dialectical tension that animates movement between such configurations (ie. periods of transition). According to leading food regime proponent Philip McMichael, then, food regimes are always characterised by contradictory forces. Further, consolidation of a regime does not so much resolve as it does contain, or else strategically accommodate, these tensions; meanwhile, their intensification, often via the mobilisations of social movements, tends to signal a period of transition.
Further, Philip McMichael's more recent article (2009), "A food regime genealogy" , provides a comprehensive overview of the development of the concept, key themes and debates, and a guide to further reading.
Food systems
The term "food system" is used frequently in discussions about nutrition, food, health, community economic development and agriculture. A food system includes all processes and infrastructure involved in feeding a population: growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, marketing,...
. It was developed in the late 1980s by Harriet Friedmann and Philip McMichael. Food regime analysis is concerned with explaining, and therefore politicising, the strategic role of agriculture in the construction and development of the world capitalist economy. As a framework, it takes an historical view in order to identify stable periods of capital accumulation associated with particular configurations of geopolitical power and forms of agricultural production and consumption. Its theoretical roots are in French Regulation Theory
Regulation school
The Régulation School is a group of writers on political economy and economics whose origins can be traced to France in the early 1970s where economic instability and stagflation were rampant in the French economy. The term ‘régulation’ was coined by Frenchman Destanne de Bernis who aimed to use...
and World Systems Theory
World Systems Theory
The world-systems theory is a multidisciplinary, macro-scale approach to world history and social change....
.
With its Marxist influences, food regime theorists are also interested in how moments of crisis within a particular configuration are expressive of the dialectical tension that animates movement between such configurations (ie. periods of transition). According to leading food regime proponent Philip McMichael, then, food regimes are always characterised by contradictory forces. Further, consolidation of a regime does not so much resolve as it does contain, or else strategically accommodate, these tensions; meanwhile, their intensification, often via the mobilisations of social movements, tends to signal a period of transition.
Food regimes
In 2001, Peter Atkins and Ian Bowler described three “food regimes". The first beginning pre-WWII, the second lasting from the 1940s to the 1970s and the third lasting from the 1980s to the present.Response and criticism
Some academics have claimed that the food regime theory is very limited in its ability to describe all food security issues. A key problem with the theory is that it does not look at localized issues for individual countries, but rather tries to group all the world into a broad grouping.Key texts
The seminal texts are as follows:- Harriet Friedmann's (1987) "International regimes of food and agriculture since 1870"
- Friedmann and McMichael's (1989) "Agriculture and the state system: the rise and fall of national agricultures, 1970 to the present"
Further, Philip McMichael's more recent article (2009), "A food regime genealogy" , provides a comprehensive overview of the development of the concept, key themes and debates, and a guide to further reading.
External links
- Sociologia Ruralis
- Journal of Agrarian Change
- Journal of Peasant StudiesJournal of Peasant StudiesThe Journal of Peasant Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering research into the social structures, institutions, actors, and processes of change in the rural areas of the developing world. It was established in 1973 with Terence J...