Anti-genetiX : The Emergence of the Anti-GM Movement

This text was prompted by the emergence of two global issues: the patenting of life forms via biotechnology; and the global crisis of natural and agricultural biodiversity.

The book explores the emergence of a social movement in response to these issues by connecting three usually disconnected theoretical literatures on expert systems, global governance and new social movments, which can themselves benefit by being brought together.

Thus, the book is structured so as to develop these concerns through a case study.

The first chapter introduces the empirical issues and theoretical frameworks and discusses the appropriateness of a case study of the anti-GM movement.

The second addresses the dominant discourse of intellectual property rights, tracing the problematic application of patenting to genes and the consolidation of expert systems, while the third explores shifts in global governance, focusing on seed patenting in the TRIPs Agreement.

In the fourth chapter, the author maps the counter-expert networks in Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that campaign against patenting life and related issues in the UK. He analyzes the ways activists frame the issues and how trust plays a key role in maintaining this fragile form of organization.

The fifth and sixth chapters explore the role of social movements in global civil society through case studies of a major NGO gathering in Berne and the NGO mobilization at the 4th Technical Conference of theFAO in Leipzig.

Finally, the last chapter returns to the core theoretical concerns of the book: how global hegemonic projects play through the institutions of global governance and how such projects take the form of discourse-coalitions mobilizing various actors and expert systems around key storylines that promote special interests as global necessities.

Global social movements are emerging that encounter hegemonic projects as their adversaries.

Relatively small networks of counter-experts, such as those that formed the early leadership of the anti-GM movement, play an important role in global politics, acting to change international regimes and consolidate global civil society.