Fluid Scales, Fluid Laws and Fluid Decisons: The Complexity of Global Food Governance With a Case Study of Palm Oil

This paper uses insights from political ecology, legal anthropology and political sciences to develop a theoretical perspective on politics of scale and conflicting values in food governance and the politics of scale. For this purpose, first 'scale' is conceptualized as a social construction, as fixed and fluid, and as a resource and outcome of discursive and materialist struggles. Second, the concept of law as a 'map of misreading' will be used to explain politics of scale and plural legal order. Third, a stream-model of decision-making will be used to conceptualize the complexity and network ordering of decision-making and to explain fluidity of decisions. The theoretical perspective is used to unpack the politics of scale and conflicting values in the case of governance of palm oil production. Palm oil is a global commodity and food ingredient. The rapid expansion of palm oil production in Indonesia due to an increase in the global demand for vegetable oils has not only generated income and employment but also contributed to deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions and land conflicts in Indonesia. These environmental and social effects have prompted many non-Indonesian state and non-state actors to develop principles and practical solutions to contribute to more sustainable palm oil production in Indonesia. These include multinational business, international NGOs, the Worldbank/IFC and the Ministries of Agriculture from the UK and the Netherlands. The paper provides insights in the ways in which these actors differently frame scales, how sustainability law flows from private to public domains, and how state and non-state actors reframe decisions taken by others.