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The role of deliberative democracy in radical food-system transformation
Against the backdrop of the urgent necessity to transform the global food system from one rooted in the capitalist-industrial complex to one of agroecological and commons-based practices, this paper scrutinizes the potential role of deliberative mini-publics in food-system transformation. So-called deliberative mini-publics are deliberative-democratic forums comprising randomly selected lay citizens and, in 2022, have exemplarily taken place in Switzerland on a both municipal and national level, which serve as two case studies for this paper.
Democratization is proposed as both a goal of and a means to food-system transformation. This has motivated numerous mini-publics focusing on food politics. Based on qualitative interviewing, it was established that the Swiss mini-publics enabled participants to learn about the dominant food system, the necessity of its transformation, and the desirability of alternatives. However, the participants did not develop a critical understanding of the food system as embedded within and subject to the imperatives and contradictions of capitalism – so-called ‘critical-food-system literacy’ – and retained hegemonic common senses about the current food system’s inevitability. Accordingly, a deductive policy analysis using the 13 principles of agroecology showed that, while their policy recommendations provide support to agroecological alternatives, they do not radically counter of the social-property relations of capitalism as would be necessary to achieve a truly sustainable, just, and democratic food system. Lastly, we will explore how deliberative mini-publics could, nonetheless, be designed so as to nurture participants’ critical consciousness by providing space for struggle-based dialogue and thus fertile soil for cultivation of critical-food-system literacy and revolutionary subjects.
Info
Day:
2023-08-30
Start time:
16:30
Duration:
00:15
Room:
ZV-8-2
Type:
Paper Presentation
Theme:
Degrowth as a political project?
