Expert knowledge, interests and politics in standards-based governance

Editions Quae (Versailles) have just published a collection edited by P. Alphandéry, M. Djama, A. Fortier and Egrave;. Fouilleux entitled Normaliser au nom du développement durable, in which a paper by Peter Gibbon, 'Savoirs experts, interest et politiques dans la régulation par les normes: agriculture biologique dans l'Union européenne' features (pp. 157-174).

The paper, which was based upon fieldwork by the author carried out in several European countries under the Standards and Agro-Food Exports from Africa (SAFE) ENRECA research programme during 2005-07, analyses the background to the complete revision of the European Union's regulations on organic agriculture in 2007-08. It builds on and updates an earlier analysis by Gibbon published in Journal of Agrarian Change in 2008.

The paper highlights the primary role of knowledge emanating from science-based experts in the organic movement, as well as the organic movement's pan-European organizational structures - as against the interests of industry - in the revision of the regulation, as well as specifying the limits of the influence of expert knowledge.