The politics of biopatents in food and agriculture, 1950–2010: Value conflict, competing paradigms and contested institutionalisation in multi-level governance

Abstract

Deploying perspectives from historical institutionalism and discursive institutionalism, this paper analyses the establishment of biopatents as a case of policy change driven by two mechanisms: institutional layering and ideational struggle between competing policy paradigms. The extension of patent law to agriculture creates a new institutional layer to agriculture policy and reinforces an incremental paradigm shift from agricultural exceptionalism to market liberalism. In response, the agricultural policy community successfully entrenches sector specific exceptions within patent law, turning patent institutions into new policy venues for the ideational struggle between the competing agricultural policy paradigms. Over the decades, legislative and jurisdictional processes unfold with contradictory dynamics. The case raises important questions about legitimacy, conflicting values, multiple orders and policy change in multi-arena governance.