Local quality and certification schemes as new forms of governance in sustainability transitions - Transition Pathways towards Sustainability in Agriculture: Case Studies from Europe - page 158

Conceptualising governance within the multi-level perspective
The need for new forms of governance in agriculture is evident in commentaries on
globalization. Globalization calls for “a new, de-territorialized, cosmopolitan perspective
on the (state) regulation of the global food-scape” (Spaargaren et al ., 2012:23). Evidence
for emerging forms of market-based governance structures can be also found in Spaargaren
et al. (2012), for example in political consumerism, when consumers vote with their wallets
by buying sustainable food. Beyond these issues, this chapter will also examine other types
of governance, including territorialized perspectives on regulating local activities: issues
which are not necessarily demonstrated through economic behaviour (including market
activities) but rather through cultural or environmental values and other non-economic
activities.
The chapter will contribute to the discourse on governance in transitions in the agri-
food regime. From the multi-level perspective, the regime orients and coordinates the
activities of actors and, as such, accounts for the stability of the relevant socio-technical
system (Geels, 2004). If the dominant regime displays significant problems, a 'window of
opportunity' opens in which existing novelties that address those processes have the
opportunity to influence the regime and, if successful, constitute a transition (Geels, 2005).
These novelties are generated in niches, whilst incremental innovations are developed in
regimes (Geels, 2004). A further important level is the socio-technical landscape consisting
of a set of deep structural trends which impact both regime and niches (Spaargaren et al .,
2012).
The ideas presented in this chapter reflect global-local dimensions of agricultural
activities and the dilemma concerning the factors of social change: is the dominant
influence of modern social development shaped by economic (market) or non-economic
(cultural) factors (Giddens, 1989)? In our approach we draw on the work of Marsden
(2013), who suggests that when dealing with transitions in agri-food systems, two
distinctive features need to be taken into account: the spatial embeddedness of the system,
and the styles of governance and regulation (due to the high level of government
intervention in agri-food systems) conditioning the transition. Marsden (2013) demonstrates
the power of reflexive governance induced by landscape pressures which coincides with
epistemic and scientific articulation, reinforcing potentials of alternative niches. We also
draw on Brunori et al . (2012:27) in our arguments that entrainment of innovations into the
system depends not only on the reflexivity of governance structures “but also on the
capacity of alternative networks to adopt the evolutionary approach,” by looking at the
consolidation of new patterns and expanding innovative activities into other fields. We
show that food oriented consumer networks “can easily move to other consumption goods”
(Brunori et al . 2012:27). This can be understood as the role of networks in bridging various
regimes, another important aspect of the analysis of our case studies, as it suggests that
regimes influence each other through 'regime graffiting' (described below).
Developing Kuhn's (1970) thoughts about scientific revolutions in the MLP discourse,
we started by considering situations where actors faced problems, anomalies or crises
because the regime could not cope with novelty. Such situations call for radical
innovations. As a result “the proliferation of competing articulations, the willingness to try
anything, the expression of explicit discontent, the recourse to philosophy and to debate
over fundamentals, all these are symptoms of a transition from normal to extraordinary