Conflict in complex governance systems: how to create effective pesticide risk reduction in Uganda

Pesticide use is located at the nexus between agricultural and economic prosperity, international trade and food systems, health and environmental protection. To reduce threats of pesticides to humans and the environment, effective pesticide risk reduction policies must thus follow these cross-sectoral characteristics of the problem. We argue that one pre-condition for the introduction of effective policies is their support by the political elite as well as key stakeholders and organizations involved in policymaking. Applying the Advocacy Coalition Framework to pesticide regulation in Uganda, we thus wish to make at least a three-fold contribution to this issue: first, we study the pesticide policy subsystem in Uganda and thereby link occurrence of potential advocacy coalitions to existing policy outputs, and give some recommendations about future policies that might be introduced. Second, we base our analysis on an elite and stakeholder survey and thereby contribute to the question how such surveys, and ACF applications can be applied in different cultural and polity contexts. Finally, we use a multi-methods approach through which we try to highlight how lacking empirical data and difficult data gathering situations can be compensated through diversified research strategies.