This new issue of the IDS Bulletin, edited by Jody Harris, Molly Anderson, Chantal Clément and Nicholas Nisbett examines a range of perspectives on power in food systems, and the various active players, relationships, activities, and institutions that play a major role in shaping them.
It notes the need for mainstream research and policy to grapple with power inequities in the food system, in order, for instance, to challenge the increase in private sector funding that is reshaping food systems. The power of dominant food system actors is often reinforced or overlooked, having negative consequences for those unable to access sufficient healthy food or to participate in decision-making about the food system.
The open access articles present the viewpoints that emerged during a workshop on the Political Economy of Food Systems, run jointly by IDS and IPES-Food.
The editors say: ‘We must first better understand power at its different levels, forms, and spaces, and then use this understanding in order to transform food systems via equitable processes which work towards the interests of all.’
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