I am a Reader in International Political Economy. Prior to joining the University of Warwick, I studied at the University of Sheffield where I received my PhD in 2008.
This article explores the interrelationship between global production networks (GPNs) and free tr... more This article explores the interrelationship between global production networks (GPNs) and free trade agreements (FTAs) in the South Korean auto industry and its employment relations. It focuses on the production network of the Hyundai Motor Group (HMG)-the third biggest automobile manufacturer in the world-and the FTA between the EU and South Korea. This was the first of the EU's 'new generation' FTAs, which among other things contained provisions designed to protect and promote labour standards. The article's argument is twofold. First, that HMG's production network and Korea's political economy (of which HMG is a crucial part) limited the possibilities for the FTA's labour provisions to take effect. Second, that the commercial provisions in this same FTA simultaneously eroded HMG's domestic market and corporate profitability, leading to adverse consequences for auto workers in the more insecure and low-paid jobs. In making this argument, the article advances a multi-scalar conceptualization of the labour regime as an analytical intermediary between GPNs and FTAs. It also provides one of the first empirical studies of the EU-South Korea FTA in terms of employment relations, drawing on 105 interviews with trade unions, employer associations, automobile companies and state officials across both parties.
Labour standards provisions within the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapters of EU Fre... more Labour standards provisions within the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapters of EU Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) are presented as a key element of the EU's commitment to a 'value-based trade agenda'. But criticism of TSD chapters has led the European Commission to commit to improving their implementation and enforcement, creating a critical juncture in the evolution of the EU's trade-labour linkage. This contribution synthesizes findings from academic studies that have examined the effectiveness of labour standards provisions in EU FTAs. It then considers the reform agenda as presented by the European Commission, and explains how some of the proposals could tackle failures identified. However, it also argues that there are various limitations with the Commission's current proposals, and outlines how legal obligations and institutional mechanisms created by trade agreements could better be harnessed to improve working conditions and rights at work around the world.
The EU has established a new architecture of international labour standards governance within the... more The EU has established a new architecture of international labour standards governance within the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapters of its Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). To examine the operationalization of this framework, we draw upon 121 interviews undertaken with key informants in three FTAs signed with the Caribbean, South Korea and Moldova. We engage with wider debates over external governance and the projection of EU power by showing how operational failings, including a lack of legal and political prioritization of TSD chapters and shortcomings in the implementation of key provisions, have hindered the impact of the FTAs upon labour standards. We also identify significant limitations to the EU's 'common formulation' approach when applied to different trading partner contexts, alongside ambiguities about the underlying purpose of the trade-labour linkage. Reflection about the function and purpose of labour standards provisions in EU trade policy is therefore required.
This article examines the relations between workplace and local labor regimes, global production ... more This article examines the relations between workplace and local labor regimes, global production networks (GPNs), and the state-led creation of expanded markets as spaces of capitalist regulation through trade policy. Through an examination of the ways in which labor regimes are constituted as a result of the articulation of local social relations and lead-firm pressure in GPNs, the article examines the limits of labor provisions in European Union trade policy seeking to ameliorate the worst consequences of trade liberalization and economic integration on working conditions. The article takes as its empirical focus the Moldovan clothing industry, the leading export-oriented manufacturing sector in the country. Trade liberalization has opened up a market space for EU lead firms to contract with Moldovan-based suppliers, but in seeking to regulate labor conditions in the process of trade liberalization, the mechanisms in place are not sufficient to deal with the consequences for workers’ rights and working conditions. Indeed, when articulated with national state policy formulations seeking to liberalize labor markets and deregulate labor standards, the limits of what can be achieved via labor provisions are reached. The EU’s trade policy formulation does not sufficiently take account of the structural causes of poor working conditions. Consequently, there is a mismatch between what the EU is trying to achieve and the core labor issues that structure social relations in, and labor regimes of, low-wage labor-intensive clothing export production for EU markets.
The European Union (EU) has approximately fifty bilateral trade agreements in place with partners... more The European Union (EU) has approximately fifty bilateral trade agreements in place with partners across the world, and more than twenty more that are at various stages of the negotiating process. At the same time as they increase in number, these agreements also increase in scope. EU trade agreements now cover a wide range of regulatory measures, including ‘Trade and Sustainable Development’ chapters, which, among other things, contain obligations in relation to labour standards. These labour standards provisions follow a common model (with limited variations) and adopt an approach which has been described as ‘promotional’ rather than ‘conditional’. In the context of the broader debate about the purpose and efficacy of the labour and trade linkage, this article examines the possibilities and limitations of the EU's new provisions on labour standards. It draws attention to the limited research on the impact of existing provisions ‘on the ground’ with respect to different types of agreements, and why this is problematic. It then concludes with proposals for a research agenda that can fill this gap, involving a set of methodologies requiring greater concern for firm and country-level assessment of changes arising from the implementation of this new breed of EU bilateralism and directed to the question of whether EU labour standards can really work ‘beyond the border’.
This paper explores the moral economy of food in the United Kingdom via discourses on food bank u... more This paper explores the moral economy of food in the United Kingdom via discourses on food bank usage and obesity. It argues that both of these markers of malnutrition were interpreted under the Conservative-led governments of David Cameron (2010–2016) as failings of personal responsibility and identified primarily with the working class, advancing the assumption that poor people make poor choices. Based on a critique of this account, our wider contribution is two-fold. First, we identify the Hayekian lineage of the discourse of personal responsibility, highlighting its utility in facilitating a form of neoliberal market consent through its insistence on self-reliance. Second, we stake out an alternative to this conceptualization through a discussion of Adam Smith’s notion of self-command, which we call interpersonal responsibility.
In the context of rising resource demand, agricultural crops such as sugarcane are being promoted... more In the context of rising resource demand, agricultural crops such as sugarcane are being promoted for their multiple uses in different commodity markets and as alternatives to fossil fuel equivalents (i.e. as a source of biofuel, bioelectricity and bioplastic). These commodities are also produced on an increasingly flexible basis, as sugarcane mills respond to price signals and switch between different crop uses. This paper offers a preliminary exploration into the politics of this latest development in the capitalist industrialization of agriculture. It does so by focusing primarily on flexing in Brazil and highlighting the role of the state in both creating markets for non-food products that sugarcane mills can now switch between and managing the tensions that arise from this. These tensions have concerned consumer prices for fuel, control of distribution infrastructure and conditions of land conversion, each prompting political interventions by the state. The paper then suggests how this same process is taking place, albeit shaped by different contexts, in Southern Africa and Cambodia. It concludes with some key questions for further research: is flexing eroding the distinction between crop regimes? How do primary processors decide what their product mix will be? And on what basis do state actors support flexing between agricultural products and investments in so-called bio-refineries?
In the same way there are markets for carbon, there is now a market for sustainability. Ostensibl... more In the same way there are markets for carbon, there is now a market for sustainability. Ostensibly produced as a means of conserving land in South-East Asia, a commodity called ‘certified sustainable palm oil’ has been created by the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and exchanged on its own international trading platform completely independently of the flow of physical palm oil. In this way, sustainability has acquired a precise pecuniary value and can be bought by ‘socially responsible’ companies to offset their use of conventional and potentially environmentally destructive palm oil. This is yet another instance of the commodification of nature, but of a kind largely unexplored in the literature because it has emerged without formal governmental authority. What this case adds analytically to the study of capitalism and environmentalism is two-fold. First, what is commonly described as non-state, market-driven governance must now be seen as actively market-making. Second, rather than foreclosing politics by moving outside the state and within markets, the fragile authority of the RSPO has opened space for activists and other interest groups to challenge both the regulatory mechanisms and social purpose of primary commodity governance.
What are the analytical benefits of using the security vocabulary when addressing issues of human... more What are the analytical benefits of using the security vocabulary when addressing issues of human well-being? And to what extent can a security framing of these issues be useful in the normative and political sense – that is, when making judgements about existing policies and when formulating and implementing alternative ones? This article uses the case of food security to engage with these questions. It argues for a shift away from conceptual fine-tuning of what food security should mean and towards an appreciation of how security functions as a political modality. Whilst acknowledging that this modality can work to encourage international conflict, enable governmental control and empower global capitalism, the idea that security has an inherent logic which denies progressive politics is refuted. Drawing on the idea of emancipation in critical security studies, and applying it to empirical examples from contemporary Brazil, it is shown how food security can help expedite action to address harm and vulnerability, reinforce the public sphere and widen the scope of social concern.
In this paper we are primarily concerned with how certification and its associated practices of s... more In this paper we are primarily concerned with how certification and its associated practices of standard-setting and auditing might be used to help eradicate child labour in sugarcane agriculture. To do this, the paper proceeds in the following fashion. We begin by categorising three kinds of abuse that children suffer in sugarcane agriculture. We also examine the challenges that have confronted recent efforts to eradicate the use of child labour and the reasons why it remains such a stubborn aspect of the sugarcane sector. Then we contrast different certification systems for sugarcane to show the subtly different forms this governance mechanism can take. The paper concludes by suggesting strategies that might better integrate certification systems with broader actions to tackle child labour. Aimed primarily at influential supply-chain actors, these strategies are modest but practical: agree on common and comprehensive standards; engage in credible and inclusive monitoring; and undertake open and honest assessments of one’s endeavours.
In 2006, the European Union reformed its sugar regime, reducing the price for sugar by 36%. To cu... more In 2006, the European Union reformed its sugar regime, reducing the price for sugar by 36%. To cushion the impact on traditional overseas suppliers, an ‘Aid for Trade’ programme called the Accompanying Measures for Sugar Protocol countries (AMSP) was implemented. This paper explores the impacts of the AMSP in Swaziland. The authors discuss emergent agrarian class differentiation and argue that the benefits experienced by farmers are jeopardised by ongoing processes of liberalisation. The paper concludes by suggesting that donors must consider market stabilisation and corporate regulation if they are to make ‘Aid for Trade’ work for the poor.
This article demonstrates how certain stories, voices and values around agro-food networks can be... more This article demonstrates how certain stories, voices and values around agro-food networks can be made powerful by documentary film. Our central argument is that documentaries mobilize ethics by presenting a partial and affective account of their subject matter, which makes their audience feel differently about the social relations that underpin the production of food and acts as a focal point for media scrutiny and political interventions. We focus attention on three documentaries about Caribbean sugar to explore multiple and disparate ethical claims made about the farmers, workers and communities that embody Caribbean sugar industries. Through a comparison of the three documentaries, we chart how the production and distribution of these films have entailed quite different ethical narratives, encounters and interventions. A key finding is that the context in which films are received is just as important as the content they deliver. The paper concludes with a guarded endorsement for using documentary film to transform the unequal life conditions experienced in the global food system, stressing the need for empirically-grounded critique of the context of documentaries and suggesting the important role that geographers might play as interlocutors in their reception.
This article focuses on the way the Anglophone Caribbean succumbed to the overhaul of the Europea... more This article focuses on the way the Anglophone Caribbean succumbed to the overhaul of the European Union sugar trade and how these countries have attempted to restructure their economies in its wake. We show how the protagonists of reform gave a sense of inevitability to the demise of the Commonwealth trade system and conveyed (unrealistic) strategies for how this should be managed for the benefit of the Caribbean. In this way we detail the hegemony of neoliberalism in contemporary trade politics and the need for alternative strategies for rural development in the Caribbean region.
Given the challenges of upholding human rights in countries where land grabbing has been most acu... more Given the challenges of upholding human rights in countries where land grabbing has been most acute, attention has turned to alternative regulatory mechanisms by which better land governance might be brought about. This essay considers one such approach: certification schemes. These encourage agricultural producers to adopt sustainability standards which are then monitored by third-party auditors. Used by the European Union to help govern its biofuel market, they now also have an important mandatory dimension. However, through a study of Bonsucro and the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels, we find both flaws in their standards and shortcomings in their ability to discipline the companies they are financially dependent upon. In sum, we suggest that the real value of these roundtable certification schemes might lie less in their ability to enforce standards than their (partially realised) role in enabling scrutiny, providing new possibilities for corporate accountability in transnational commodity chains.
Emerging scholarship on global governance offers ever-more detailed analyses of private regulator... more Emerging scholarship on global governance offers ever-more detailed analyses of private regulatory regimes. These regimes aim to regulate some area of social activity without a mandate from, or participation of, states or international organizations. While there are numerous empirical studies of these regimes, the normative theoretical literature has arguably struggled to keep pace with such developments. This is unfortunate, as the proliferation of private regulatory regimes raises important issues about legitimacy in global governance. The aim of this paper is to address some of these issues by elaborating a theoretical framework that can orientate normative investigation of these schemes. It does this through turning to the idea of experimentalist governance. It is argued that experimentalism can provide an important and provocative set of insights about the processes and logics of emerging governance schemes. The critical purchase of this theory is illustrated through an application to the case of primary commodities roundtables, part of ongoing attempts by non-governmental organizations, producers, and buyers to set sustainability criteria for commodity production across a range of sectors. The idea of experimentalist governance, we argue, can lend much needed theoretical structure to debates about the normative legitimacy of private regulatory regimes.
Industrial biotechnology involves the replacement of petrochemical processes and inputs with more... more Industrial biotechnology involves the replacement of petrochemical processes and inputs with more energy-efficient and renewable biological ones. It is already being used in the production of biofuels and bioplastics and has been touted as a means by which modern economies can be shifted toward a more competitive, low-carbon growth model. This paper does two things. First, it outlines the policy framework established in the European Union and the narrative of a knowledge-based bioeconomy (KBBE) underpinning this. Second, it argues that the ‘win – win’ rhetoric contained within the KBBE narrative is misleading. Among the different groups commenting on the use of industrial biotechnology, the paper locates cleavages between farmers and agribusiness, between those convinced and those sceptical of environmental technofixes, and between pro-corporate and anti-corporate NGOs. Taken together, they show the purported transition from a fossil-fuel to a bio-based economy to be a resolutely political one.
This paper asks how investment in large-scale sugar cane production has contributed, and will con... more This paper asks how investment in large-scale sugar cane production has contributed, and will contribute, to rural development in southern Africa. Taking a case study of the South African company Illovo in Zambia, the argument is made that the potential for greater tax revenue, domestic competition, access to resources and wealth distribution from sugar/ethanol production have all been perverted and with relatively little payoff in wage labour opportunities in return. If the benefits of agro-exports cannot be so easily assumed, then the prospective ‘balance sheet’ of biofuels needs to be re-examined. In this light, the paper advocates smaller-scale agrarian initiatives.
In 2005 the EU instigated the most substantial reform to the sugar sector since the UK acceded in... more In 2005 the EU instigated the most substantial reform to the sugar sector since the UK acceded in 1973 and just two years later caused consternation among the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries by denouncing the 34-year long Sugar Protocol. In contrast to existing literature, which has taken a snapshot of the post-reform period and identified ‘winners and losers’ accordingly, this article examines the processes of capital accumulation in the industry and the legacies these have left. It argues that despite defeat in a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute case, concentration and diversification in the EU sugar industry has enabled its leading corporations to prosper after reform, while divestment in the ex-colonies has left producers in the ACP facing difficulties of adjustment far in excess of plain terms of trade losses. Further, it also reveals why EU reform was not solely a response to WTO legislation but rather, because of the relationship of sugar to wider economic fortunes, resulted from an assiduous attempt by the EU Trade Commission to press the sector into a WTO-compatible Common Agricultural Policy.
There is more sugar in the world's diet than ever before, but life is far from sweet for the expl... more There is more sugar in the world's diet than ever before, but life is far from sweet for the exploited producers making nature's 'white gold' and the unhealthy consumers eating it.
Why has the billion-dollar sugar trade created such inequities? In this insightful analysis, Ben Richardson argues that the most compelling answers to this question can be found in the dynamics of global capitalism. Led by multinational companies, the mass consumption of sweetened snacks has taken hold in the Global South and underpinned a new wave of foreign investment in sugar production. The expansion of large-scale and highly-industrialised farms across Latin America, Asia and Africa has kept the price of sugar down whilst pushing workers out of jobs and rural dwellers off the land. However, challenges to these practices are gathering momentum. Health advocates warning against costly diseases like diabetes, trade unions fighting for better pay, and local residents campaigning for a cleaner environment are all re-shaping the way sugar is consumed and produced. But to truly transform sugar, Richardson contends, these political activities must also address the profit-driven nature of food and farming itself.
This article explores the interrelationship between global production networks (GPNs) and free tr... more This article explores the interrelationship between global production networks (GPNs) and free trade agreements (FTAs) in the South Korean auto industry and its employment relations. It focuses on the production network of the Hyundai Motor Group (HMG)-the third biggest automobile manufacturer in the world-and the FTA between the EU and South Korea. This was the first of the EU's 'new generation' FTAs, which among other things contained provisions designed to protect and promote labour standards. The article's argument is twofold. First, that HMG's production network and Korea's political economy (of which HMG is a crucial part) limited the possibilities for the FTA's labour provisions to take effect. Second, that the commercial provisions in this same FTA simultaneously eroded HMG's domestic market and corporate profitability, leading to adverse consequences for auto workers in the more insecure and low-paid jobs. In making this argument, the article advances a multi-scalar conceptualization of the labour regime as an analytical intermediary between GPNs and FTAs. It also provides one of the first empirical studies of the EU-South Korea FTA in terms of employment relations, drawing on 105 interviews with trade unions, employer associations, automobile companies and state officials across both parties.
Labour standards provisions within the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapters of EU Fre... more Labour standards provisions within the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapters of EU Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) are presented as a key element of the EU's commitment to a 'value-based trade agenda'. But criticism of TSD chapters has led the European Commission to commit to improving their implementation and enforcement, creating a critical juncture in the evolution of the EU's trade-labour linkage. This contribution synthesizes findings from academic studies that have examined the effectiveness of labour standards provisions in EU FTAs. It then considers the reform agenda as presented by the European Commission, and explains how some of the proposals could tackle failures identified. However, it also argues that there are various limitations with the Commission's current proposals, and outlines how legal obligations and institutional mechanisms created by trade agreements could better be harnessed to improve working conditions and rights at work around the world.
The EU has established a new architecture of international labour standards governance within the... more The EU has established a new architecture of international labour standards governance within the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapters of its Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). To examine the operationalization of this framework, we draw upon 121 interviews undertaken with key informants in three FTAs signed with the Caribbean, South Korea and Moldova. We engage with wider debates over external governance and the projection of EU power by showing how operational failings, including a lack of legal and political prioritization of TSD chapters and shortcomings in the implementation of key provisions, have hindered the impact of the FTAs upon labour standards. We also identify significant limitations to the EU's 'common formulation' approach when applied to different trading partner contexts, alongside ambiguities about the underlying purpose of the trade-labour linkage. Reflection about the function and purpose of labour standards provisions in EU trade policy is therefore required.
This article examines the relations between workplace and local labor regimes, global production ... more This article examines the relations between workplace and local labor regimes, global production networks (GPNs), and the state-led creation of expanded markets as spaces of capitalist regulation through trade policy. Through an examination of the ways in which labor regimes are constituted as a result of the articulation of local social relations and lead-firm pressure in GPNs, the article examines the limits of labor provisions in European Union trade policy seeking to ameliorate the worst consequences of trade liberalization and economic integration on working conditions. The article takes as its empirical focus the Moldovan clothing industry, the leading export-oriented manufacturing sector in the country. Trade liberalization has opened up a market space for EU lead firms to contract with Moldovan-based suppliers, but in seeking to regulate labor conditions in the process of trade liberalization, the mechanisms in place are not sufficient to deal with the consequences for workers’ rights and working conditions. Indeed, when articulated with national state policy formulations seeking to liberalize labor markets and deregulate labor standards, the limits of what can be achieved via labor provisions are reached. The EU’s trade policy formulation does not sufficiently take account of the structural causes of poor working conditions. Consequently, there is a mismatch between what the EU is trying to achieve and the core labor issues that structure social relations in, and labor regimes of, low-wage labor-intensive clothing export production for EU markets.
The European Union (EU) has approximately fifty bilateral trade agreements in place with partners... more The European Union (EU) has approximately fifty bilateral trade agreements in place with partners across the world, and more than twenty more that are at various stages of the negotiating process. At the same time as they increase in number, these agreements also increase in scope. EU trade agreements now cover a wide range of regulatory measures, including ‘Trade and Sustainable Development’ chapters, which, among other things, contain obligations in relation to labour standards. These labour standards provisions follow a common model (with limited variations) and adopt an approach which has been described as ‘promotional’ rather than ‘conditional’. In the context of the broader debate about the purpose and efficacy of the labour and trade linkage, this article examines the possibilities and limitations of the EU's new provisions on labour standards. It draws attention to the limited research on the impact of existing provisions ‘on the ground’ with respect to different types of agreements, and why this is problematic. It then concludes with proposals for a research agenda that can fill this gap, involving a set of methodologies requiring greater concern for firm and country-level assessment of changes arising from the implementation of this new breed of EU bilateralism and directed to the question of whether EU labour standards can really work ‘beyond the border’.
This paper explores the moral economy of food in the United Kingdom via discourses on food bank u... more This paper explores the moral economy of food in the United Kingdom via discourses on food bank usage and obesity. It argues that both of these markers of malnutrition were interpreted under the Conservative-led governments of David Cameron (2010–2016) as failings of personal responsibility and identified primarily with the working class, advancing the assumption that poor people make poor choices. Based on a critique of this account, our wider contribution is two-fold. First, we identify the Hayekian lineage of the discourse of personal responsibility, highlighting its utility in facilitating a form of neoliberal market consent through its insistence on self-reliance. Second, we stake out an alternative to this conceptualization through a discussion of Adam Smith’s notion of self-command, which we call interpersonal responsibility.
In the context of rising resource demand, agricultural crops such as sugarcane are being promoted... more In the context of rising resource demand, agricultural crops such as sugarcane are being promoted for their multiple uses in different commodity markets and as alternatives to fossil fuel equivalents (i.e. as a source of biofuel, bioelectricity and bioplastic). These commodities are also produced on an increasingly flexible basis, as sugarcane mills respond to price signals and switch between different crop uses. This paper offers a preliminary exploration into the politics of this latest development in the capitalist industrialization of agriculture. It does so by focusing primarily on flexing in Brazil and highlighting the role of the state in both creating markets for non-food products that sugarcane mills can now switch between and managing the tensions that arise from this. These tensions have concerned consumer prices for fuel, control of distribution infrastructure and conditions of land conversion, each prompting political interventions by the state. The paper then suggests how this same process is taking place, albeit shaped by different contexts, in Southern Africa and Cambodia. It concludes with some key questions for further research: is flexing eroding the distinction between crop regimes? How do primary processors decide what their product mix will be? And on what basis do state actors support flexing between agricultural products and investments in so-called bio-refineries?
In the same way there are markets for carbon, there is now a market for sustainability. Ostensibl... more In the same way there are markets for carbon, there is now a market for sustainability. Ostensibly produced as a means of conserving land in South-East Asia, a commodity called ‘certified sustainable palm oil’ has been created by the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and exchanged on its own international trading platform completely independently of the flow of physical palm oil. In this way, sustainability has acquired a precise pecuniary value and can be bought by ‘socially responsible’ companies to offset their use of conventional and potentially environmentally destructive palm oil. This is yet another instance of the commodification of nature, but of a kind largely unexplored in the literature because it has emerged without formal governmental authority. What this case adds analytically to the study of capitalism and environmentalism is two-fold. First, what is commonly described as non-state, market-driven governance must now be seen as actively market-making. Second, rather than foreclosing politics by moving outside the state and within markets, the fragile authority of the RSPO has opened space for activists and other interest groups to challenge both the regulatory mechanisms and social purpose of primary commodity governance.
What are the analytical benefits of using the security vocabulary when addressing issues of human... more What are the analytical benefits of using the security vocabulary when addressing issues of human well-being? And to what extent can a security framing of these issues be useful in the normative and political sense – that is, when making judgements about existing policies and when formulating and implementing alternative ones? This article uses the case of food security to engage with these questions. It argues for a shift away from conceptual fine-tuning of what food security should mean and towards an appreciation of how security functions as a political modality. Whilst acknowledging that this modality can work to encourage international conflict, enable governmental control and empower global capitalism, the idea that security has an inherent logic which denies progressive politics is refuted. Drawing on the idea of emancipation in critical security studies, and applying it to empirical examples from contemporary Brazil, it is shown how food security can help expedite action to address harm and vulnerability, reinforce the public sphere and widen the scope of social concern.
In this paper we are primarily concerned with how certification and its associated practices of s... more In this paper we are primarily concerned with how certification and its associated practices of standard-setting and auditing might be used to help eradicate child labour in sugarcane agriculture. To do this, the paper proceeds in the following fashion. We begin by categorising three kinds of abuse that children suffer in sugarcane agriculture. We also examine the challenges that have confronted recent efforts to eradicate the use of child labour and the reasons why it remains such a stubborn aspect of the sugarcane sector. Then we contrast different certification systems for sugarcane to show the subtly different forms this governance mechanism can take. The paper concludes by suggesting strategies that might better integrate certification systems with broader actions to tackle child labour. Aimed primarily at influential supply-chain actors, these strategies are modest but practical: agree on common and comprehensive standards; engage in credible and inclusive monitoring; and undertake open and honest assessments of one’s endeavours.
In 2006, the European Union reformed its sugar regime, reducing the price for sugar by 36%. To cu... more In 2006, the European Union reformed its sugar regime, reducing the price for sugar by 36%. To cushion the impact on traditional overseas suppliers, an ‘Aid for Trade’ programme called the Accompanying Measures for Sugar Protocol countries (AMSP) was implemented. This paper explores the impacts of the AMSP in Swaziland. The authors discuss emergent agrarian class differentiation and argue that the benefits experienced by farmers are jeopardised by ongoing processes of liberalisation. The paper concludes by suggesting that donors must consider market stabilisation and corporate regulation if they are to make ‘Aid for Trade’ work for the poor.
This article demonstrates how certain stories, voices and values around agro-food networks can be... more This article demonstrates how certain stories, voices and values around agro-food networks can be made powerful by documentary film. Our central argument is that documentaries mobilize ethics by presenting a partial and affective account of their subject matter, which makes their audience feel differently about the social relations that underpin the production of food and acts as a focal point for media scrutiny and political interventions. We focus attention on three documentaries about Caribbean sugar to explore multiple and disparate ethical claims made about the farmers, workers and communities that embody Caribbean sugar industries. Through a comparison of the three documentaries, we chart how the production and distribution of these films have entailed quite different ethical narratives, encounters and interventions. A key finding is that the context in which films are received is just as important as the content they deliver. The paper concludes with a guarded endorsement for using documentary film to transform the unequal life conditions experienced in the global food system, stressing the need for empirically-grounded critique of the context of documentaries and suggesting the important role that geographers might play as interlocutors in their reception.
This article focuses on the way the Anglophone Caribbean succumbed to the overhaul of the Europea... more This article focuses on the way the Anglophone Caribbean succumbed to the overhaul of the European Union sugar trade and how these countries have attempted to restructure their economies in its wake. We show how the protagonists of reform gave a sense of inevitability to the demise of the Commonwealth trade system and conveyed (unrealistic) strategies for how this should be managed for the benefit of the Caribbean. In this way we detail the hegemony of neoliberalism in contemporary trade politics and the need for alternative strategies for rural development in the Caribbean region.
Given the challenges of upholding human rights in countries where land grabbing has been most acu... more Given the challenges of upholding human rights in countries where land grabbing has been most acute, attention has turned to alternative regulatory mechanisms by which better land governance might be brought about. This essay considers one such approach: certification schemes. These encourage agricultural producers to adopt sustainability standards which are then monitored by third-party auditors. Used by the European Union to help govern its biofuel market, they now also have an important mandatory dimension. However, through a study of Bonsucro and the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels, we find both flaws in their standards and shortcomings in their ability to discipline the companies they are financially dependent upon. In sum, we suggest that the real value of these roundtable certification schemes might lie less in their ability to enforce standards than their (partially realised) role in enabling scrutiny, providing new possibilities for corporate accountability in transnational commodity chains.
Emerging scholarship on global governance offers ever-more detailed analyses of private regulator... more Emerging scholarship on global governance offers ever-more detailed analyses of private regulatory regimes. These regimes aim to regulate some area of social activity without a mandate from, or participation of, states or international organizations. While there are numerous empirical studies of these regimes, the normative theoretical literature has arguably struggled to keep pace with such developments. This is unfortunate, as the proliferation of private regulatory regimes raises important issues about legitimacy in global governance. The aim of this paper is to address some of these issues by elaborating a theoretical framework that can orientate normative investigation of these schemes. It does this through turning to the idea of experimentalist governance. It is argued that experimentalism can provide an important and provocative set of insights about the processes and logics of emerging governance schemes. The critical purchase of this theory is illustrated through an application to the case of primary commodities roundtables, part of ongoing attempts by non-governmental organizations, producers, and buyers to set sustainability criteria for commodity production across a range of sectors. The idea of experimentalist governance, we argue, can lend much needed theoretical structure to debates about the normative legitimacy of private regulatory regimes.
Industrial biotechnology involves the replacement of petrochemical processes and inputs with more... more Industrial biotechnology involves the replacement of petrochemical processes and inputs with more energy-efficient and renewable biological ones. It is already being used in the production of biofuels and bioplastics and has been touted as a means by which modern economies can be shifted toward a more competitive, low-carbon growth model. This paper does two things. First, it outlines the policy framework established in the European Union and the narrative of a knowledge-based bioeconomy (KBBE) underpinning this. Second, it argues that the ‘win – win’ rhetoric contained within the KBBE narrative is misleading. Among the different groups commenting on the use of industrial biotechnology, the paper locates cleavages between farmers and agribusiness, between those convinced and those sceptical of environmental technofixes, and between pro-corporate and anti-corporate NGOs. Taken together, they show the purported transition from a fossil-fuel to a bio-based economy to be a resolutely political one.
This paper asks how investment in large-scale sugar cane production has contributed, and will con... more This paper asks how investment in large-scale sugar cane production has contributed, and will contribute, to rural development in southern Africa. Taking a case study of the South African company Illovo in Zambia, the argument is made that the potential for greater tax revenue, domestic competition, access to resources and wealth distribution from sugar/ethanol production have all been perverted and with relatively little payoff in wage labour opportunities in return. If the benefits of agro-exports cannot be so easily assumed, then the prospective ‘balance sheet’ of biofuels needs to be re-examined. In this light, the paper advocates smaller-scale agrarian initiatives.
In 2005 the EU instigated the most substantial reform to the sugar sector since the UK acceded in... more In 2005 the EU instigated the most substantial reform to the sugar sector since the UK acceded in 1973 and just two years later caused consternation among the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries by denouncing the 34-year long Sugar Protocol. In contrast to existing literature, which has taken a snapshot of the post-reform period and identified ‘winners and losers’ accordingly, this article examines the processes of capital accumulation in the industry and the legacies these have left. It argues that despite defeat in a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute case, concentration and diversification in the EU sugar industry has enabled its leading corporations to prosper after reform, while divestment in the ex-colonies has left producers in the ACP facing difficulties of adjustment far in excess of plain terms of trade losses. Further, it also reveals why EU reform was not solely a response to WTO legislation but rather, because of the relationship of sugar to wider economic fortunes, resulted from an assiduous attempt by the EU Trade Commission to press the sector into a WTO-compatible Common Agricultural Policy.
There is more sugar in the world's diet than ever before, but life is far from sweet for the expl... more There is more sugar in the world's diet than ever before, but life is far from sweet for the exploited producers making nature's 'white gold' and the unhealthy consumers eating it.
Why has the billion-dollar sugar trade created such inequities? In this insightful analysis, Ben Richardson argues that the most compelling answers to this question can be found in the dynamics of global capitalism. Led by multinational companies, the mass consumption of sweetened snacks has taken hold in the Global South and underpinned a new wave of foreign investment in sugar production. The expansion of large-scale and highly-industrialised farms across Latin America, Asia and Africa has kept the price of sugar down whilst pushing workers out of jobs and rural dwellers off the land. However, challenges to these practices are gathering momentum. Health advocates warning against costly diseases like diabetes, trade unions fighting for better pay, and local residents campaigning for a cleaner environment are all re-shaping the way sugar is consumed and produced. But to truly transform sugar, Richardson contends, these political activities must also address the profit-driven nature of food and farming itself.
Sugar is a commodity that continues to hit the headlines. Whether the debate is over ongoing prot... more Sugar is a commodity that continues to hit the headlines. Whether the debate is over ongoing protectionism, volatile world prices, poor labour standards, or bio fuel production, the policies that surround sugar are heavily contested. Drawing on critical political economy and institutional theory, this book develops a novel framework by which the power underpinning these policies can be better understood and their distributive outcomes brought to the forefront of analysis. Providing a truly global overview of the sugar industry, the book considers such issues such as the impact of the World Trade Organization on regulation, the patterns of concentration and diversification among sugar processors, and the transition to high-sugar diets in Asia. Importantly, these issues are also discussed in relation to the acts of resistance, submission and co-option among the rural poor. In doing so, this study sheds light not only on the changing nature of production in sugar, but also on the causes and consequences of globalization in the agri-food sector more generally.
This briefing argues that supply-side policies that reduce the total availability of sugar and ra... more This briefing argues that supply-side policies that reduce the total availability of sugar and raise its price to the food industry have the potential to widen and strengthen the sugar reduction agenda.
Too much sugar is being consumed in the UK with multiple diet-related diseases suffered as a result. According to Government guidelines sugar intake should account for no more than 5% of our daily calorie intake. Achieving this target would require two-thirds reduction in average sugar consumption. Policies targeting the problem have so far focused on food and drinks manufacturers and consumers; and the regulation of advertising and promotion. However, policies addressing the supply of sugar have been missing.
The supply of sugar in the UK has been governed by EU regulations. After the liberalisation of domestic production and greater market access for imports in the 1980s, the EU has been supplied with more and cheaper sugar, with prices falling to their lowest levels. This has undermined efforts to encourage food manufacturers to use less sugar and exacerbating public health problems.
The withdrawal of the UK from the EU means that new regulations are needed to govern the supply of sugar. The policy space available for these instruments will to an extent be contingent on the final Brexit deal, but there will be some scope for these policies to be applied, whatever the outcome. The briefing discusses policy options in light of this and proposes that they are applied in a way consistent with other public policy goals such as affordable food for consumers and fair returns for farmers.
In his 2011 book ‘The Precariat’ Guy Standing argued that the insecure employment and irregular w... more In his 2011 book ‘The Precariat’ Guy Standing argued that the insecure employment and irregular work being normalised within capitalist economies was creating a whole new social class. This article investigates this further by looing at how precarity affects people’s diets differently to that of poverty, and asks whether the precariat could mobilise politically around the issues of health and hunger.
These new goals offer some important changes from the MDG era and provide ‘food for thought’ in t... more These new goals offer some important changes from the MDG era and provide ‘food for thought’ in the UK too
In the context of rising resource demand, agricultural crops such as sugarcane are being promoted... more In the context of rising resource demand, agricultural crops such as sugarcane are being promoted for their multiple uses in different commodity markets and as alternatives to fossil fuel equivalents (i.e. as a source of biofuel, bioelectricity and bioplastic). These commodities are also produced on an increasingly flexible basis, as sugarcane mills respond to price signals and switch between different crop uses. This paper offers a preliminary exploration into the politics of this latest development in the capitalist industrialization of agriculture. It does so by focusing primarily on flexing in Brazil and highlighting the role of the state in both creating markets for non-food products that sugarcane mills can now switch between and managing the tensions that arise from this. These tensions have concerned consumer prices for fuel, control of distribution infrastructure and conditions of land conversion, each prompting political interventions by the state. The paper then suggests how this same process is taking place, albeit shaped by different contexts, in Southern Africa and Cambodia. It concludes with some key questions for further research: is flexing eroding the distinction between crop regimes? How do primary processors decide what their product mix will be? And on what basis do state actors support flexing between agricultural products and investments in so-called bio-refineries?
Ben Richardson and Laura Gelhaus investigate food and drink adverts on television. They argue tha... more Ben Richardson and Laura Gelhaus investigate food and drink adverts on television. They argue that the food industry occupies a critical position in determining social attitudes toward food and the exclusion of larger people from their adverts should be seriously scrutinised.
The World Health Organization and the UK's Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition recommend t... more The World Health Organization and the UK's Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition recommend that current levels of sugar consumption should be reduced. This briefing paper brings together six policy proposals that suggest how this 'sugar shift' could be achieved in a way that meets both public health and social justice concerns. In so doing it links food and drink consumption to issues including UK business competitiveness, EU agricultural policy, and international development. The sugar debate cuts across sectors and reinforces the need for a joined-up food policy. To appreciate why sugar is so prevalent in the food system and how it has become linked to different forms of inequality, a political economy approach is used. This pays attention to the power relations that shape who benefits from growing and selling sugar, and how those might be altered. The normative agenda of the paper is not simply to demonise sugary foods and drinks: a nutrient-by-nutrient approach to health is undoubtedly too narrow. Rather, the agenda is one of linking a reduction in sugar consumption to an expansion in meaningful choice. This means creating opportunities for people to access and afford a wider variety of foods, enjoy common leisure facilities, avoid discrimination, and make a decent living.
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Journal articles by Ben Richardson
distribution infrastructure and conditions of land conversion, each prompting political interventions by the state. The paper then suggests how this same process is taking place, albeit shaped by different contexts, in Southern Africa and Cambodia. It concludes with some key questions for further research: is flexing eroding the distinction between crop regimes? How do primary processors decide what their product mix will be? And on what basis do state actors support flexing between
agricultural products and investments in so-called bio-refineries?
Books by Ben Richardson
Why has the billion-dollar sugar trade created such inequities? In this insightful analysis, Ben Richardson argues that the most compelling answers to this question can be found in the dynamics of global capitalism. Led by multinational companies, the mass consumption of sweetened snacks has taken hold in the Global South and underpinned a new wave of foreign investment in sugar production. The expansion of large-scale and highly-industrialised farms across Latin America, Asia and Africa has kept the price of sugar down whilst pushing workers out of jobs and rural dwellers off the land. However, challenges to these practices are gathering momentum. Health advocates warning against costly diseases like diabetes, trade unions fighting for better pay, and local residents campaigning for a cleaner environment are all re-shaping the way sugar is consumed and produced. But to truly transform sugar, Richardson contends, these political activities must also address the profit-driven nature of food and farming itself.
distribution infrastructure and conditions of land conversion, each prompting political interventions by the state. The paper then suggests how this same process is taking place, albeit shaped by different contexts, in Southern Africa and Cambodia. It concludes with some key questions for further research: is flexing eroding the distinction between crop regimes? How do primary processors decide what their product mix will be? And on what basis do state actors support flexing between
agricultural products and investments in so-called bio-refineries?
Why has the billion-dollar sugar trade created such inequities? In this insightful analysis, Ben Richardson argues that the most compelling answers to this question can be found in the dynamics of global capitalism. Led by multinational companies, the mass consumption of sweetened snacks has taken hold in the Global South and underpinned a new wave of foreign investment in sugar production. The expansion of large-scale and highly-industrialised farms across Latin America, Asia and Africa has kept the price of sugar down whilst pushing workers out of jobs and rural dwellers off the land. However, challenges to these practices are gathering momentum. Health advocates warning against costly diseases like diabetes, trade unions fighting for better pay, and local residents campaigning for a cleaner environment are all re-shaping the way sugar is consumed and produced. But to truly transform sugar, Richardson contends, these political activities must also address the profit-driven nature of food and farming itself.
Too much sugar is being consumed in the UK with multiple diet-related diseases suffered as a result. According to Government guidelines sugar intake should account for no more than 5% of our daily calorie intake. Achieving this target would require two-thirds reduction in average sugar consumption. Policies targeting the problem have so far focused on food and drinks manufacturers and consumers; and the regulation of advertising and promotion. However, policies addressing the supply of sugar have been missing.
The supply of sugar in the UK has been governed by EU regulations. After the liberalisation of domestic production and greater market access for imports in the 1980s, the EU has been supplied with more and cheaper sugar, with prices falling to their lowest levels. This has undermined efforts to encourage food manufacturers to use less sugar and exacerbating public health problems.
The withdrawal of the UK from the EU means that new regulations are needed to govern the supply of sugar. The policy space available for these instruments will to an extent be contingent on the final Brexit deal, but there will be some scope for these policies to be applied, whatever the outcome. The briefing discusses policy options in light of this and proposes that they are applied in a way consistent with other public policy goals such as affordable food for consumers and fair returns for farmers.