The peaking of liberal democracy: energy scarcity, food security, and insurgent governance
and far from green. The key features of this emerging order are: extreme
energy solutions that exacerbate climate chaos and environmental damage; predatory militarism masked as the ‘War on Terror’ to secure control
of oil and gas reserves (Friedrichs 2010); the creation of a homeland
security state (Chossudovsky 2005); and, managed democracy where
policy-making is captured by corporate agendas (Wolin 2008).
GM and the Global Land-Grab – An Emerging Post-Neoliberal
Food Regime?
How might this emerging order be reflected in the global food-system?
Striking trends since the 2007-08 oil and food price spikes indicate that
the current global, neoliberalist food regime3 is transforming. These
trends include a surge in land-grabbing (Anseeuw et al 2012; Borras,
Franco and Wang 2013; Borras and Franco 2010; GRAIN 2008; McMichael 2013, 2012), combined with aggressive promotion of a ‘New
Green Revolution’, based on GM technology (Daño 2007; Holt-Giménez and Altieri 2013; Mittal and Moore 2009; Morvaridi 2012). A developmentalist and global food security narrative is deployed to justify both
land-grabbing and the New Green Revolution.
Foreign investors in farmland that is typically, but not exclusively, located in the global South include wealthy import-dependent countries
concerned about food and energy security, as well as financial investors
seeking to exploit rising land values, higher food prices, and demand for
biofuels and livestock feed. The latter reflects the growing demand for
meat and dairy products in emerging economies. The New Green Revolution enables market penetration by agribusinesses, the destruction of
Food regime analysis is associated with the work of Friedmann and McMichael. A
food regime is defined as “an historically specific geopolitical-economic organisation of
international agricultural and food relations” (McMichael 2005: 57), or alternatively, a
“rule-governed structure of production and consumption of food on a world scale” (Friedmann 1993: 30).
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