The global food system has witnessed a very high power concentration in the hands of a small number of corporations and people, and a diversification of domination mechanisms, in particular with the development of the digital economy. This raises the issue of the need for a regulation capable to avoid that food systems become fully controlled by a club of ultra-powerful firms.
More articles on private power published on hungerexplained.org
January 2024 – In the heart of the global economic system: the protection of intellectual property rights – The explosion of legal instruments for the protection of intellectual property rights, at the end of the 20th century, triggered a radical transformation of the global economy, the impacts of which are of serious concern. [read]
December 2023 – Opinions: Reflections on food, power, poverty and resilience in the face of global catastrophic risks by Geoff Tansey – Ensuring resilience of our food systems in the face of global catastrophic risks will require that we change our view about how the world works, so as to be able to modify the way we run it. [read]
April 2023 – The “food and agricultural transition” is ongoing The analysis of nine changes (digital technologies, biotechnology, agroecology, bioeconomy, urban agriculture, novel foods, reorganization of research and investments, and financialization) provides clues on the direction the world is taking. [read]
February 2023 – Science, what science ? A problem or part of the solution? (When the industry doctors science for profit) – In the 16th century, Rabelais was already warning us that “Science without conscience is the soul’s perdition” and we may add to it now, without hesitation, “and that of the world”…. [read]
May 2022 – Opinion: Out of Africa: Rich continent, poor people by Jomo Kwame Sundaram – The natural resources curse, capital flight, tax evasion, clientelism, “good governance” and economic liberalisation, result in the plundering of Africa. [read]
22 June 2021 – Bill Gates: philanthropy or business as usual? The dark side of the greatest “philanthropist” in history. [read]
30 March 2021 – Responsible businesses or greenwashing? The certification industry in support of multinationals – More rigorous laws and certification processes might allow consumers to identify companies and products that respect satisfactory social, environmental and health norms. [read]
March 2021 – The digital revolution in food and agriculture – Exciting promises, mixed results and risky bet. By making it possible for the market to gain access to the previously largely inaccessible domains of knowledge and decision making, ‘Big Data’ puts our food at risk. [read]
13 July 2019 – Being a lobbyist : accept to accuse sustainable agriculture in order to help develop profits of firms that fund you – Mixing freely carefully selected statistical, ideological, scientific and moral arguments to illustrate their point of view in defiance of any rigour, lobbyists promote ideas – and so-called solutions – that are damaging for the future of world food. [read]
11 June 2019 – Protecting our health and environment – Is justice to substitute rules and regulations? In the face of the inability of Parliaments and Governments to take appropriate measures, consumers and citizens have been obliged to invoke the third power : Justice. [read]
September 2019 – Why is it so difficult to make our food system more sustainable and climate-friendly? An analysis of historical, ideological and structural obstacles of a transition towards a more sustainable and climate-friendly food system. [read]
December 2018 – Borders in the global economy – Control and segmentation of labour, competition among countries, super profits and exacerbation of inequalities are threats to world stability. [read]
November 2018 – Privatisation of development assistance: integrating further agriculture into the world market – The growing role left by governments to the privage sector transforms modalities of agricultural development in poor countries to the detriment of the mass of farmers who are, to a large extent, excluded. [read]
7 November 2017 – How tax evasion reinforces financial power, weakens public institutions and policies and perpetuates dependence – The vacuum created in public finance by tax evasion allows the private sector, especially private finance, to increase its influence on governments’ activities. [read]
17 July 2015 – Food Security Governance: empowering communities, regulating corporations, by Nora McKeon – Less than one year after publishing “The New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition: a coup for corporate capital?”, Nora McKeon is back with a new book “Food Security Governance: empowering communities, regulating corporations”. [read]
October 2013 – Main stakeholders of food and agricultural policies and their motivations [read]