Deliberative Democracy, Global Green Information System and Spirituality

Todorov, Vladislav; Hossain, A.L.

doi:10.1142/9789814612593_0004

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Its concerns involve regulations, laws and policies for guiding, steering, directing, restraining, controlling and managing (Dahlberg, 2001). In recent decades, in many advanced capitalist nation states, this traditional top-down approach has been challenged though deliberative democracy, which requires deliberative processes as part of broader governance mechanisms (Dryzek, 2009;Lyons, 2013;Marinova, Todorov, & Hossain, 2015). The rise of deliberative democracy can be understood as an interactive process, which fosters collaboration between the state and private sectors to exercise a deliberative approach to achieving common results; rather than state institutions exercising control and demand (Lang et al, 2009).…”

Section: Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

Food sovereignty: alternative policy for a sustainable national food system in Timor-Leste under climate change

Silva¹

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Globally, more than enough food is produced to feed the world's nine billion people (a figure that is expected to peak in 2050). Yet despite this, every year almost one billion people experience food insecurity. The consequences of food insecurity are set to be greatly exacerbated by climate change; circumstances that will be acutely experienced in developing countries, where the intersection of poverty and food insecurity is often concentrated. In this context, Timor-Leste, as one of the least developed countries (UN, 1998;IPCC, 2007;McMichael, 2008), will stand to suffer the earliest and the most detrimental impacts of climate change for food security, unless substantive mitigation and adaption actions are taken.With this as context, this thesis examines the impacts of agri-food development policies for food security in Timor-Leste. Through the adoption of a critical political economy perspective, this thesis undertakes an historical analysis of the causes of food insecurity. It then explores food sovereignty as a possible pathway for rebuilding the current food system, particularly in the context of climate change. This approach contributes to extending sociological understandings of, and responses to, food insecurity in Timor-Leste; representing a departure from many earlier studies, which have centrally focused upon technical barriers to food security.Methodologically, the thesis adopts a constructivist approach, accepting that different realities exist across multiple stakeholders engaged in the food and climate change nexus, and that truth or knowledge claims are both constructed and relative. The thesis undertakes a comparative case study approach, through the selection of cases across three villages in Timor-Leste. Data from these cases is augmented by interviews with additional stakeholders, including politicians, NGOs, academics and students. A total of 130 interviews were conducted in this study. This was complemented with document analysis, observation and a seminar.The results show that post-independence Timor-Leste has embraced a modernist techno-fix development pathway to food security. This is an-elite driven approach, rendering local people with very limited roles in determining priorities, and unable to shape the form or outcomes of policies and programs. These development pathways have delivered limited benefits to the poor and vulnerable, as well as further widening the gap between the poor and rich. Despite this, the current government is seeking to solve Timor-Leste's food security problems through continued agricultural modernisation and market liberalisation. This has ii resulted in significant negative consequences, including nutrition transition, dependency on imported white rice, and increased dependence on the state as a food and service provider.This thesis concludes by arguing that the root cause of food insecurity in Timor-Leste is an outcome of political failures that disempower at both macro and micro levels. Ensuring good governance-which is important to enable democrat...

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Section: Governancementioning

confidence: 99%