IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/agrhuv/v31y2014i3p439-453.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Making “minority voices” heard in transnational roundtables: the role of local NGOs in reintroducing justice and attachments

Author

Listed:
  • Emmanuelle Cheyns

Abstract

Since the beginning of the new millennium, initiatives known as roundtables have been developed to create voluntary sustainability standards for agricultural commodities. Intended to be private and voluntary in nature, these initiatives claim their legitimacy from their ability to ensure the participation of all categories of stakeholders in horizontal participatory and inclusive processes. This article characterizes the political and material instruments employed as the means of formulating agreement and taking a variety of voices into consideration in these arenas. Referring to the specific case of the “Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil”, I undertake a detailed analysis of the tensions relating to different forms of participation, which create a gap between “local minority voices” and international stakeholders—either non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or industries. Local communities and small-scale farmers face difficulties when making their voices heard in the form of debate proposed. Firstly, some participants attempt to re-impose a vertical hierarchical relationship between small-scale farmers or affected communities and company managers/directors in order to deprive the former of their powers of representation and of being able to transform reality. Secondly, the liberalism of interest groups in the roundtable accords value to experts, global knowledge, strategy, and detachment, at the expense of other capabilities of rooted or attached people who come to defend their real lives with a desire to raise critical issues of injustice. In this context, I highlight the capacity of local NGOs to relieve some of those tensions and to help locally affected communities and small-scale farmers introduce public stages for debates, by accommodating other forms of participation apart from the liberal one. By being close to and by restoring their dignity through a specific work of solicitude and care, local NGOs prepare affected people for public speaking. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Emmanuelle Cheyns, 2014. "Making “minority voices” heard in transnational roundtables: the role of local NGOs in reintroducing justice and attachments," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(3), pages 439-453, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:31:y:2014:i:3:p:439-453
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-014-9505-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10460-014-9505-7
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10460-014-9505-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mert, Aysem, 2009. "Partnerships for sustainable development as discursive practice: Shifts in discourses of environment and democracy," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 109-122, March.
    2. Bas Arts, 2004. "THE GLOBAL‐LOCAL NEXUS: NGOs AND THE ARTICULATION OF SCALE," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 95(5), pages 498-510, December.
    3. Hatanaka, Maki & Bain, Carmen & Busch, Lawrence, 2005. "Third-party certification in the global agrifood system," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 354-369, June.
    4. Schouten, Greetje & Leroy, Pieter & Glasbergen, Pieter, 2012. "On the deliberative capacity of private multi-stakeholder governance: The Roundtables on Responsible Soy and Sustainable Palm Oil," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 42-50.
    5. Schouten, Greetje & Glasbergen, Pieter, 2011. "Creating legitimacy in global private governance: The case of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(11), pages 1891-1899, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kelly Gerard, 2023. "Doing aid chains differently: Evaluating the potential of Multi‐Stakeholder Partnerships," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 41(1), January.
    2. Peter Lund-Thomsen, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility: A supplier-centered perspective," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(8), pages 1700-1709, November.
    3. Ogahara, Zoë & Jespersen, Kristjan & Theilade, Ida & Nielsen, Martin Reinhard, 2022. "Review of smallholder palm oil sustainability reveals limited positive impacts and identifies key implementation and knowledge gaps," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    4. Domenico Dentoni & Verena Bitzer & Greetje Schouten, 2018. "Harnessing Wicked Problems in Multi-stakeholder Partnerships," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(2), pages 333-356, June.
    5. Deborah Martens & Annelien Gansemans & Jan Orbie & Marijke D'Haese, 2018. "Trade Unions in Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives: What Shapes Their Participation?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-27, November.
    6. Elizabeth A. Bennett, 2018. "Extending ethical consumerism theory to semi-legal sectors: insights from recreational cannabis," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 35(2), pages 295-317, June.
    7. Johnson, Adrienne, 2022. "The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and transnational hybrid governance in Ecuador’s palm oil industry," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    8. Emmanuelle Cheyns & Ponte Stefano, 2016. "Convention Theory In The Anglophone Litterature Of Agri Food Studies [L'Economie Des Conventions Dans La Litterature Anglophone Des Etudes Agro Alimentaires]," Working Papers hal-01393304, HAL.
    9. Valdivia, Corinne & Kengo, Milton & Jimenez, Elizabeth & Turin, Cecilia, 2015. "Climate change, global drivers and local decision makers in rural communities: the role of translational research, and adaptation strategies that contribute to resilience," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212725, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    10. Jason Konefal, 2015. "Governing Sustainability Transitions: Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives and Regime Change in United States Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-22, January.
    11. Norma Schönherr, 2022. "Same Same but Different? A Quantitative Exploration of Voluntary Sustainability Standards in Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-18, April.
    12. Janina Grabs & Rachael D. Garrett, 2023. "Goal-Based Private Sustainability Governance and Its Paradoxes in the Indonesian Palm Oil Sector," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(3), pages 467-507, December.
    13. Schleifer, Philip & Fiorini, Matteo & Fransen, Luc, 2019. "Missing the Bigger Picture: A Population-level Analysis of Transnational Private Governance Organizations Active in the Global South," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1-1.
    14. Agni Kalfagianni & Lena Partzsch & Miriam Beulting, 2020. "Governance for global stewardship: can private certification move beyond commodification in fostering sustainability transformations?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(1), pages 65-81, March.
    15. Maki Hatanaka, 2020. "Technocratic and deliberative governance for sustainability: rethinking the roles of experts, consumers, and producers," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(3), pages 793-804, September.
    16. Cordula Hinkes, 2020. "Adding (bio)fuel to the fire: discourses on palm oil sustainability in the context of European policy development," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(8), pages 7661-7682, December.
    17. Harvey James & Iddisah Sulemana, 2014. "Case studies on smallholder farmer voice: an introduction to a special symposium," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(4), pages 637-641, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Emmanuelle Cheyns & Lone Riisgaard, 2014. "Introduction to the symposium," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(3), pages 409-423, September.
    2. Glasbergen, Pieter, 2018. "Smallholders do not Eat Certificates," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 243-252.
    3. Domenico Dentoni & Verena Bitzer & Greetje Schouten, 2018. "Harnessing Wicked Problems in Multi-stakeholder Partnerships," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(2), pages 333-356, June.
    4. Schouten, Greetje & Bitzer, Verena, 2015. "The emergence of Southern standards in agricultural value chains: A new trend in sustainability governance?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 175-184.
    5. Cordula Hinkes, 2020. "Adding (bio)fuel to the fire: discourses on palm oil sustainability in the context of European policy development," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(8), pages 7661-7682, December.
    6. McCaffrey Sara Jane & Kurland Nancy, 2014. "Who defines “local”? Resistance to harmonizing standards in ethical markets," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 191-219, April.
    7. Frank Biermann, 2013. "Curtain down and Nothing Settled: Global Sustainability Governance after the ‘Rio+20’ Earth Summit," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 31(6), pages 1099-1114, December.
    8. Johnson, Adrienne, 2022. "The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and transnational hybrid governance in Ecuador’s palm oil industry," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    9. Nia Kurniawati Hidayat & Astrid Offermans & Pieter Glasbergen, 2018. "Sustainable palm oil as a public responsibility? On the governance capacity of Indonesian Standard for Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO)," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 35(1), pages 223-242, March.
    10. Verena Bitzer & Alessia Marazzi, 2021. "Southern sustainability initiatives in agricultural value chains: a question of enhanced inclusiveness? The case of Trustea in India," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(2), pages 381-395, June.
    11. Otto Hospes, 2014. "Marking the success or end of global multi-stakeholder governance? The rise of national sustainability standards in Indonesia and Brazil for palm oil and soy," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 31(3), pages 425-437, September.
    12. Janina Grabs & Rachael D. Garrett, 2023. "Goal-Based Private Sustainability Governance and Its Paradoxes in the Indonesian Palm Oil Sector," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(3), pages 467-507, December.
    13. Eusebius Pantja Pramudya & Otto Hospes & C. J. A. M. Termeer, 2018. "Friend or foe? The various responses of the Indonesian state to sustainable non-state palm oil initiatives," Asian Journal of Sustainability and Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 1-22, December.
    14. Gallemore, Caleb & Guisinger, Amy & Kruuse, Mikkel & Ruysschaert, Denis & Jespersen, Kristjan, 2018. "Escaping the “Teenage” Years: The Politics of Rigor and the Evolution of Private Environmental Standards," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 76-87.
    15. Ruysschaert, Denis & Salles, Denis, 2014. "Towards global voluntary standards: Questioning the effectiveness in attaining conservation goals," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 438-446.
    16. Schouten, Greetje & Glasbergen, Pieter, 2012. "Private Multi-stakeholder Governance in the Agricultural Market Place: An Analysis of Legitimization Processes of the Roundtables on Sustainable Palm Oil and Responsible Soy," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 15(B), pages 1-26, December.
    17. Greetje Schouten & Otto Hospes, 2018. "Public and Private Governance in Interaction: Changing Interpretations of Sovereignty in the Field of Sustainable Palm Oil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-15, December.
    18. Eusebius Pantja Pramudya & Lukas Rumboko Wibowo & Fitri Nurfatriani & Iman Kasiman Nawireja & Dewi Ratna Kurniasari & Sakti Hutabarat & Yohanes Berenika Kadarusman & Ananda Oemi Iswardhani & Rukaiyah , 2022. "Incentives for Palm Oil Smallholders in Mandatory Certification in Indonesia," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-28, April.
    19. Alexander E. Saak, 2017. "The Value of Delegated Quality Control," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(2), pages 309-335, June.
    20. Charity, Nabwire Ephamia Juma, 2016. "Economic Analysis Of Consumers’ Awareness And Willingness To Pay For Geographical Indicators And Other Quality Attributes Of Honey In Kenya," Research Theses 265574, Collaborative Masters Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:31:y:2014:i:3:p:439-453. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.