Power to the people? Food democracy initiatives’ contributions to democratic goods

Abstract

In order to foster a transition of the food system toward more sustainable outcomes, scholars have increasingly pointed at the need for organizing strengthened food democracy. By increasing the participation of citizens and food system actors, democratic innovations, such as food policy councils, are believed to promote the quality and legitimacy of food policymaking. However, the question of whether and how food democracy initiatives do indeed contribute to more democratic modes of governance largely remains unexplored. This study addresses this gap by performing a systematic literature review of the existing scholarship on food democracy, assessing democratic innovations for their contributions to four democratic goods: inclusiveness, popular control, considered judgment and transparency. The analysis shows that food democracy initiatives tend to be dominated by organized interests, have more influence on agenda-setting and implementation compared to decision-making, and generally aim for some form of deliberation or knowledge exchange. The precise selection mechanisms, processes and quality of deliberation, and transparency of democratic innovations remain important research gaps. The paper ends with a plea to better connect food democracy scholarship with the broader political sciences, as well as various suggestions for future research.

Covid-19 as a chance for more food democracy in European cities? The responses of actors within Vienna's urban food system to the pandemic

“…( Jacob & Ekins, 2020 ). Food policy councils and other civic food initiatives such as citizen tribunals, hackatons or citizen summits emerging around the world can bring different actors together and push for democratic innovations ( Candel, 2022 ). If they are correctly supported by transformative politics they can contribute to the building of urban transformative capital and become a catalysator for the establishment of new transformative policies.…”

“…Food democracy gives actors, such as farmers, citizens, and other marginalized actors of the food system, the opportunity and creates the mechanism for them to actively participate in how sustainable food systems are built ( Johnston et al, 2009 , Candel, 2022 , Holtkamp and van Mierlo, 2022 ). The concept of food democracy was first identified as a force in bottom-up food policy that described the need to find a balance among citizens, state, and economic actors in the food system ( Lang, 1999 , Lang, 2005 ).…”

Local food systems, citizen and public science, empowered communities, and democracy: hopes deserving to live

“…For example, Levkoe (2006) discusses learning democracy through food justice movements. Finally, several authors examine food democracy initiatives and identify important research needs and strategies to pursue (Cifuentes & Gugerell 2021;Candel 2022;Thompson et al 2020).…”

“…Another similarly analyzed and widespread local food system has been community supported agriculture (CSA). Among the strengths and issues identified in the numerous AHV journal articles from multiple continents are: the differences in commitment, racial membership, and economic risks among low and high income households (e.g., Galt et al 2017;Delind 1999), their innovative and transformative potential (e.g., Mert-Cakal &Miele 2020), andsocial, cultural, economic &Gugerell 2021;Candel 2022); and rights-based food systems (Anderson 2008). Broader approaches have also been proposed such as transitions to sustainability and moving beyond boundaries (Hinrichs (2008(Hinrichs ( , 2014Niewolny 2021).…”

Untitled

“…Scholars have emphasized the importance of creating new spaces that can preserve or rebuild public trust in the food system by giving people a greater say in policymaking (Ankeny, 2016;Candel, 2022;Thompson et al, 2020). It is argued that such mechanisms can facilitate the democratization of food governance by allowing citizens to deliberate and formulate policy recommendations that reflect their values and priorities.…”