Realizing urban food policy: a discursive institutionalist analysis of Ede municipality
- PDF / 1,296,141 Bytes
- 12 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 21 Downloads / 142 Views
ORIGINAL PAPER
Realizing urban food policy: a discursive institutionalist analysis of Ede municipality Lara V. Sibbing 1
&
Jeroen J. L. Candel 1
Received: 3 April 2020 / Accepted: 22 November 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract To overcome pressing food system challenges, academics and civil society actors have called for the development of integrated food policies. Municipalities have increasingly picked up on these calls by developing municipal food strategies. It remains unclear, however, whether and how these commitments have resulted in a genuine institutionalization of food governance across local administrations. We address this gap through an in-depth study of how food governance ideas were institutionalized in the Dutch municipality of Ede, which is considered a frontrunner in municipal food policy. Drawing on discursive institutionalism, we explore how actors, ideas and discourses mutually shaped the institutionalization process. Our analysis shows that food governance ideas were institutionalized following a discursive-institutional spiral of three stages. First, an abstract food profile discourse emerged, which was institutionalized exclusively amongst a small group of policy makers. In the second stage, the discourse shifted to a more elaborate integrated food policy discourse, which was institutionalized across various departments. Finally, a food system discourse emerged, which was institutionalized across an even broader range of policy departments. Our study suggests that integrated food policy can be institutionalized within a relatively short time span. A food strategy, budget and organizational innovations seem key in this process, although they can also be constraining. At the same time, we conclude that retaining a food policy institutionalized remains challenging, as sudden ideational change may cause rapid deinstitutionalization. Keywords Food policy . Food systems . Local governance . Discursive institutionalism . Ideas
1 Introduction Our global food system faces a wide range of sustainability challenges, such as obesity, food waste and climate change. To address these interconnected challenges effectively, scientists and policy makers have stressed the need for integrated food policy (Lang et al. 2009; MacRae 2011; IPES-Food 2017; Moragues-Faus et al. 2017; Candel and Daugbjerg 2019). Integrated food policies emphasize the multifaceted and interrelated nature of food challenges, and address these in a concerted manner (Mendes 2007; Sibbing et al. 2019), thereby integrating health, environmental, social, and
* Lara V. Sibbing [email protected] Jeroen J. L. Candel [email protected] 1
Public Administration and Policy Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 8130, 6700 EW Wageningen, Netherlands
economic dimensions to realize sustainable food and nutrition security (Lang et al. 2009; Moragues-Faus and Morgan 2015). Scientists and policymakers therefore consider food policies key for addressing current policy incoherencies, and for fostering synergies that contribute to sustainability
Data Loading...
