The upside-down roots of a transnational advocacy network

Applying an 'organizational ecology' approach to the anti-GMO network

Bibliographic Data

ID3173717
AuthorsRichard Bownas (0009-0005-7221-5742, Political Science and International Affairs University of Northern Colorado McKee Hall Greeley, CO 80639 USA, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume17
Issue2
Pages195-211
Publication date2017-04-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGlobal Networks (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1470-2266 • E-ISSN: 1471-0374
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/glob.12148
OpenAlexW2553765264
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited15

In this article, I examine a transnational advocacy network opposed to the introduction of genetically modified crops and supportive of organic agriculture in India. I argue that this network illustrates some of the consequences of 'upward oriented linkages', in which professional NGO brokers focus on constructing relationships with other professional or elite partner bodies such as donor organizations, global retailers and the English language media. The 'upside-down' tree that results has roots pointing upwards to global partners and to domestic elite actors but is less responsive, and less tightly bound, to mass organizations and to its purported non-elite constituency of marginal farmers. I make this case through a methodological approach I term 'organizational ecology' in which I explore the idea of NGO based advocacy organizations as filling 'niches' in the larger political ecology of rural India and within this 'ecology' forming symbiotic connections to other organizations

Agriculture · Biology · Elite · Organizational ecology · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Social science · Sociology · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Innovation and Socioeconomic Development · Law · Ecology