Civil Society and Institutional Actors: Mobilizing Conflicts and Engaging in Food System Transformations

In the context of the sustainability transition, social movements have taken their place in mobilizing conflicts within the current economic system. Particularly in the food realm, citizens’ participation and activism are emerging as fundamental building blocks of transformation toward sustainability. Currents of thought such as Food Democracy and Food Sovereignty advocate for a greater presence of social movements in the transformation of the food system. Nonetheless, in certain contexts, institutional actors — including municipal governments and public agencies — have also demonstrated the capacity to respond to the need for change. Moreover, institutional actors are in some settings not only showing their ability to initiate and facilitate systemic change, but are also expected to take the lead in fostering sustainable transformations of food systems. A case in point is France where we can observe significant state-driven change through various food policies, national food-related programmes, and public agencies dedicated to this matter. However, civil society in France has a fundamental role in this transition, too, and has found its path to collaborate with state-driven strategies, creating a joint effort toward sustainable food systems (e.g., Social Food Security experiments). Through an analysis of the urban food system in the Metropole of Lille, this paper seeks to identify which actors are driving change in the local food system. We analyze the partnerships and synergies between grassroots movements and local governmental institutions that work toward sustainability, and highlight the different roles social movements, civil society, and private or institutional actors can play in achieving a more sustainable food system. Our case study aims to contribute to the discussion of the transformative potential of mixed-actor strategies in local food systems and the ways such partnerships can enhance the inclusivity, effectiveness, and democratic nature of these transformations. This paper arises from the Horizon Europe project DEMETRA which explores the contexts and conditions that facilitate citizens’ democratic and deliberative participation in the ecological transition. The Lille case study draws on data collected within the DEMETRA project: semi-structured interviews of key actors of the local food system and an organizational survey of a large sample of stakeholders. Through the analysis of this data — focused both on state-driven and civil society initiatives — this study sheds light on the ongoing and potential multi-actor actions to advance transformation in local food systems.