The Seeds of Dispute. A Gramscian analysis of how the strict EU policies on genetically modified organisms came about
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2018-08-13
Language
en
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Abstract
Groundbreaking discoveries in the natural sciences do not only spark debates within de
scientific community, but are also a challenge for policymakers since science creates facts
that become political. Probably one of the most intensely led debates on how a society should
deal with science is the controversy over the regulation of genetically modified organisms
(GMOs) for food and feed within the EU. The political debate caused the EU to implement the
strictest policies on GMOs of a major economic power worldwide. This thesis was set up to
explain the strict content, form and scope of EU policy on GMOs. In order to answer the
research question, a Gramscian theoretical framework was adopted to identify discourses,
agents and the social relations of production behind the struggle. First of all, the empirical
analysis revealed that the struggle circled around safety concerns for health & environment,
the insufficiency of scientific evidence to prove that GMOs are safe and the economic
consequences of contamination for non-GMO farmers. Secondly, those agents that were
identified as relevant in the struggle were clustered into social forces which revealed a proand
an anti-GMO group. Finally, the strict policies were identified as a result of hegemony
accommodating with contesting forces rather than a completely new hegemonic constellation
of classes. It can be concluded the struggle on the regulation of GMOs in the EU is a case of
a weakened hegemonic discourse that incorporated the counter-hegemonic discourse into the
still existent capitalist relations of production. The strict regulations on GMOs within Europe
are ultimately a consequence of continuous agency of a social force that managed to fuse the
interests of consumers, environmental NGOs and farmers, backed by EU member state
governments that were willing to push forward the anti-GMO discourse within EU institutions
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen