ERIC Number: EJ913245
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Jun
Pages: 30
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0036-0112
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The Neoliberal Food Regime: Neoregulation and the New Division of Labor in North America
Pechlaner, Gabriela; Otero, Gerardo
Rural Sociology, v75 n2 p179-208 Jun 2010
We undertake a comparative investigation of how neoliberal restructuring characterizes the third food regime in the three North American countries. By contrasting the experience of the two developed countries of the United States and Canada with that of the developing country of Mexico, we shine some empirical light on the differential impact of neoliberal regulatory restructuring on the division of labor in agriculture within the North American Free Trade Agreement region. In particular, we investigate these countries' agricultural production markets, trade, and food vulnerability--with an emphasis on Mexico--as analytical points for comparing and contrasting their experience with this neoliberal restructuring. We start with a synthesis of food-regime theory and outline the key features of what we call the "neoliberal food regime." We then discuss our case-study countries in terms of food vulnerability and resistance in Mexico, their differential relationships to trade liberalization, and what these trends might mean for the evolution of the neoliberal food regime. We conclude that, while dominant trends are ominous, there is room for an alternative trajectory and consequent reshaping of the emerging regime: sufficient bottom-up social resistance, primarily at the level of the nation-state, may yet produce an alternative trajectory.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Agricultural Production, Labor, Developed Nations, Political Attitudes, Food, Agribusiness, Developing Nations, Comparative Analysis, International Trade, Theories, Case Studies, Policy Analysis, Public Policy, Resistance (Psychology), Agricultural Occupations, Rural Economics
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Subscription Department, 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774. Tel: 800-825-7550; Tel: 201-748-6645; Fax: 201-748-6021; e-mail: subinfo@wiley.com; Web site: https://secure-interscience-wiley-com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/cgi-bin/jhome/112782101
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada; Mexico; North America; United States
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: North American Free Trade Agreement
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A