Abstract
The current food system, characterised by considerable concentrations of economic and political power, is widely regarded as undemocratic and in many respects unsustainable in its outcomes. To address the democratic deficits in the food system, empowerment has become a central claim and point of reference for actors seeking to transform the system. In fact, numerous venues and practices have emerged in recent years to develop people’s capacities to engage with food issues. These range from local food initiatives and health-food movements to food policy councils and government education policies. This article takes a closer look at the theory and practice of democratic empowerment in the food system. It explores whether and how different forms of food-related empowerment have the potential to improve the democratic quality of the food system. Based on a broad analytical understanding of empowerment that is combined with a notion of power-based complex democracy, it is argued that different forms of food-related empowerment promote the development of different types of power, which in turn are constitutive for different functions of the democratic process. From this perspective, the challenge of democratising the food system lies in linking different complementary empowerment practices into functioning configurations of complex democratic governance.
Highlights
Over the past decades, food production and consumption have become increasingly globalised and interconnected
We ask in this article: What is the democratic potential of different food-related empowerment forms? To answer this question, we provide a novel theoretical conceptualisation of democratic empowerment that combines a broad analytical understanding of empowerment with a concept of powerbased complex democracy
We look at two more institutionalised venues for engagement in food policy councils, as well as in government food education programmes
Summary
Food production and consumption have become increasingly globalised and interconnected. Given the diversity of venues for empowering people on food issues, it remains an open question whether all these venues have the same potential to improve the democratic quality of food systems This question is all the more important since the supposedly simple relationship between empowerment and democracy has arguably become more complex in advanced Western liberal democracies. We provide a novel theoretical conceptualisation of democratic empowerment that combines a broad analytical understanding of empowerment with a concept of powerbased complex democracy On this basis, we offer tentative empirical interpretations of the democratising potential of various forms of food-related empowerment that can be found, especially in the context of Western liberal democracies, in four different types of venues for involving people in food issues. We reflect upon future research on food-related empowerment as a viable strategy for the transformation of the food system
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