Politics by Other Means: The Emergence of a New Politics of Food in the United States

Abstract

A new politics of food has arrived. Interest groups are no longer required to rely on traditional legislative means to achieve their political objectives. Instead, changes in the political economy of the food system and the economic structure of the food system make it possible to practice politics by other means, including the use of the market to achieve political objectives. The increasing transaction costs of legislative decision making, the slow growth in the demand for food in developed country markets, the increasing demand for specific food product attributes, and the highly concentrated state of most food markets can make it advantageous for interest groups to pursue their political objectives through the market rather than through legislative channels. In the new politics of food, the market, the legislature, the bureaucracy, and the judiciary are all arenas within which the art of politics will be practiced.