Special Issue on Rebuilding Global Food Governance amidst a Crisis of Multilateralism
this special issue focuses on the past and future legitimacy of global governance to tackle both emergent and longstanding threats to food systems. Global food governance currently revolves around intergovernmental organizations, economic clubs with rotating chairs (G7, G20, BRICS) and multistakeholder models. The legitimacy of these bodies depends on both delivering on stated goals and operating according to procedures perceived as inclusive and fair. The extant governance setting has been often critiqued for inefficiencies and biased participation, but recent populist movements are accelerating the dismantling of multilateral norms around cooperation and public goods provision. This necessitates a reflection of what has worked and how emergent policy innovations can be leveraged to rebuild legitimacy for global food governance, even in a dramatically altered multilateral system.
This special issue therefore welcomes papers that address the global food governance system via the lens of one or more of the following broad themes:
- Global initiatives and institutions
- International law
- Financing and financialization
- Multistakeholderism, corporate power and accountability
- Nutrition
- Non-state actors
Manuscript submission information:
We welcome empirically-based papers that analyze dynamics relevant to one or more of the areas above and that provide policy recommendations to rebuild legitimacy and navigate a post-multilateral era. The papers can have any geographical scope (global, national, regional, local) as long as they consider how global governance dynamics impact outcomes at the chosen level of geographical analysis. Papers will be due by February 1, 2026.
Authors should select the article type of ‘VSI: Global Governance of Food System‘ via the editorial system of the journal, to make sure to submission is collected under this special issue.