Global Reactions to GMOs: Movements, Institutions, and Regulatory Diversity

• In Event: 463 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 18. Social Movements Inside and Against Economic Institutions

Abstract

The spread of genetically modified food has created a unique situation in which every country has had to deal with the same conflict contemporaneously. Rapidly, GM foods have caused a controversy that exists at sub-national, national, and supra-national levels. GMO reception is a case in which I can contrast the production/emergence of a social issue (or lack thereof), the resulting social movements, and government regulations on a global scale – which is rare for a social movement analysis. Here I overview of the controversy over GM foods, and discuss the current state of the conflict. I also look at the way movements have been redefined to include movements based on identity and culture in addition to movements related to the political process, and the way these theories relate to this case. I review the existing scholarship on neo-institutionalism, emphasizing the way institutions have been contested by the anti-GMO movement. I view the potential for institutional isomorphism with globalization theories, and the effects of global pressures. I then propose a research project that would analyze and explain the international variance of GMO regulations to date, as well as a prediction for the future. This study will extend previous research to include the more comprehensive global phenomenon. Using data from the World Values Survey, examining trade partnerships, and looking at case histories, I hope to explain the variance in GMO regulation. This will enlighten the ways in which global movements operate and governmental issues are diffused internationally.

Author

• William Cernanec, University of Notre Dame