1st Edition

Governing the Transatlantic Conflict over Agricultural Biotechnology Contending Coalitions, Trade Liberalisation and Standard Setting

By Joseph Murphy, Les Levidow Copyright 2006
    416 Pages
    by Routledge

    256 Pages
    by Routledge

    Delays in approving genetically modified crops and foods in the European Union have led to a high profile trade conflict with the United States. This book analyses the EU-US conflict and uses it as a case study to explore the governance of new technologies.

    The transatlantic conflict over GM crops and food has been widely attributed to regulatory differences that divide the EU and the US. Going beyond common stereotypes of these differences and their origins, this book analyses the conflict through contending coalitions of policy actors operating across the Atlantic. Governing the Transatlantic Conflict over Agricultural Biotechnology focuses on interactions between the EU and the US, rather than on EU-US comparisons. Drawing on original research and interviews with key policy actors, the book shows how EU-US efforts to harmonise regulations for agricultural biotechnology created the context in which activists could generate a backlash against the technology. In this new context regulations were shaped along different lines. Joseph Murphy and Les Levidow provide new insights by elaborating critical perspectives on global governance, issue-framing, standard-setting and regulatory science.

    This accessible book will appeal to undergraduate and post-graduate students, academics and policy-makers working on a wide range of issues covered by political science, policy studies, international relations, economics, geography, business management, environmental and development studies, science and technology studies.

    1. GMOs in Europe and America: A Governance Problem?  2. 'Approved Once, Approved Everywhere': GMOs and EU-US Trade Networks  3. 'Right to Know, Right to Choose': GMOs and EU-US Civil Society Networks  4. The Case of Bt Maize: Environmental Risks and GM Crops  5. The Strange Story of 'Substantial Equivalence': Health Risks and GM Foods  6. The WTO Dispute: EU-US Interactions at the Global Level  7. The Governance of New Technology: Learning from the EU-US Conflict over GMOs

    Biography

    Joseph Murphy, Les Levidow