GFT - Global food trade

Authors

  • Jennifer Clapp
  • Annette Desmarais
  • Matias Margulis University of Stirling

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v2i2.80

Keywords:

International trade, agriculture, food security, WTO, India

Abstract

Few issues animate debate about the global food system as much as the role of international trade and, in particular, that of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Indeed, the WTO is a subject that polarizes debate among food scholars and activists. Some scholars see the WTO as imperfect but necessary to ensure a transparent and rule-based system to manage international food trade that is preferable to the exercise of unilateral raw power by governments. For others, the WTO represents the apex of neoliberal globalization and they regard it as an institution that has entrenched corporate interests and control over the food system at the expense of public interests. For many food activists, in particular, the WTO became a principal target for mass public protests; it also galvanized the transnational food sovereignty movement that has long sought to get the WTO “out of agriculture”.

Author Biography

Matias Margulis, University of Stirling

Matias E. Margulis is Lecturer in Political Economy at the University of Stirling. A former Canadian delegate to the WTO, OECD and United Nations agencies, his research focuses on global governance, international trade and human rights. Recent publications include “Forum-Shopping for Global Food Security Governance? Canada’s approach at the G8 and UN Committee for World Food Security” (Canadian Foreign Policy Journal, 2015), “Trading Out of the Global Food Crisis? The WTO and the Geopolitics of Agro-Power” (Geopolitics, 2014) and Land Grabbing and Global Governance (Routledge 2014, edited with Nora McKeon and Saturnino Borras, Jr.).

photo of a doorway with a sandwich board promoting thali, burgers, pita sandwiches, and chicken wings in French

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Published

2015-09-08

How to Cite

Clapp, J., Desmarais, A., & Margulis, M. (2015). GFT - Global food trade. Canadian Food Studies La Revue Canadienne Des études Sur l’alimentation, 2(2), 75–76. https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v2i2.80

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2015): Special Issue: Mapping the Global Food Landscape

Section

Research Article

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