To Harmonise or Not to Harmonise?: The Case of Cross-national Biotechnology Governance in Southern Africa

Julius Mugwagwa

doi:10.4067/s0718-27242011000300003

Abstract

This paper is based on a study which investigated both existing and new regulatory responses to food emergencies and bigger challenges presented by modern gene-based biotechnologies. In particular, this paper looks at the challenge of cross-national cooperation in regulation of these technologies in southern Africa. One response to this challenge which has dominated policy agendas in the region for a long time, and with more prominence after the 2002-2003 food emergency, is that of harmonisation of national biosafety regulatory systems. Harmonisation is touted by its promoters as one way in which countries can buttress weaker national and sub-national regulatory capacities, and develop synergies that will place them in a strong position to deal with the dynamic challenges presented by modern biotechnologies. The desire for cross-national cooperation in biotechnology management was investigated from the broader perspective of policy convergence, with harmonization being but one of the mechanisms towards the policy convergence. A number of factors facilitating or inhibiting policy convergence were identified, including but not limited to cultural, institutional, socio-economic and policy community attributes. The paper concludes that an understanding of these factors is crucial if grounded empirical and theoretical proposals on cross-national policy convergence are to be advanced.

Highlights

Southern African countries have found themselves in the throes of food emergencies in the past, for example, in 1991, when a severe drought combined with inadequate human, infrastructural and organizational capacity in domestic markets to severely constrain food supplies leaving millions of people on the verge of starvation (Omamo and von Grebmer, 2005:2)
Southern African Development Community4 (SADC) agriculture ministers cited the lack of a harmonized regional position on GMOs as creating serious operational problems in the movement of food and non-food items, and recommended the formation of an advisory committee on biotechnology and biosafety5 to develop guidelines on this issue and t-he broader issues around biotechnology (SADC 2003)
This paper has described the contending stakeholder views on cross-national convergence or harmonisation of biosafety systems in southern Africa, laying bare the daunting task of either creating a predictable environment for cross-national learning; or ensuring effective learning even in this dynamic environment

Summary

Introduction

‘Instead of thinking about policy as a routine engagement between certain public officials and a settled retinue of established interests, we are now forced to consider how a single system is constructed from semi-independent institutions and actors linked by resource agreements, joint agreements, joint projects and cross-border engagements ... it is really composed of pads of unequal size, each contributing to a characteristic policy ‘footprint’ (Considine, 2005:127).

Background

Methodology

Findings

Conclusions