Contentious Knowledge Science Social Science and Social Movements

Contentious Knowledge Science, Social Science and Social Movements

Contentious Knowledge Team

2006 -09 Contentious Knowledge Team Members Ronald Herring (Government) Kenneth M. Roberts (Government) Maria Cook (ILR - International & Comparative Labor) Jason Frank (Government) Durba Ghosh (History) Rebecca Givan (ILR - Collective Bargaining) Stephen Hilgartner (Science and Technology Studies) Tom Medvetz (UC San Diego - Sociology) Kyoko Sato (Harvard – Sociology) Sarah A. Soule (Stanford - Graduate School of Business) Susan Spronk (University of Ottawa – International Development and Global Studies) Janice Thies (Crop and Soil Sciences)

Our Starting Point SOCIAL SCIENCE AUTHORITATIVE KNOWLEDGE SOCIAL MOVEMENTS POLICY

Presentation Overview Our Model Think Tanks Social Movements Biotechnology Washington Consensus

Our Model of Knowledge and Policy-making Processes Our Model Think Tanks Social Movements Biotechnology Washington Consensus

Our Starting Point SOCIAL SCIENCE AUTHORITATIVE KNOWLEDGE SOCIAL MOVEMENTS POLICY

Knowledge and Policy Making ENGAGED SOCIAL ACTORS Policy Making Process Policy A Institutional Outcome B Policy X AK T C D AK CLAIMS COUNTER CLAIMS raj e Considered cto y e raj T K ry n ou -A er t C KNOWLEDGE MAKING PROCESS r to c Policy Y

Our Model of Knowledge and Policy-making Processes Knowledge-Making Process Social Movements Interest Groups Think Tanks Scientists Business Groups

Politics of Knowledge Making

Our Model of Knowledge and Policy-making Processes Knowledge-Making Process Social Movements Interest Groups Think Tanks Scientists Business Groups

Our Model of Knowledge and Policy-making Processes Knowledge-Making Process Social Movements Interest Groups Think Tanks Scientists Business Groups

AUTHORITATIVE KNOWLEDGE COUNTERCLAIMS TO AUTHORITATIVE KNOWLEDGE CLAIMS (e. g. Anthropogenic Climate Change) Knowledge-Making Process Social Movements Interest Groups Think Tanks Scientists Business Groups

AK P ol icy T AK CLAIMS ra je ct j. a Tr y COUNTER-AK CLAIMS K r-A e or y KNOWLEDGE CLAIMS (e. g. Anthropogenic Climate Change) t un Co Knowledge-Making Process Social Movements Interest Groups Think Tanks Scientists Business Groups lic o P

AK P ol icy T AK CLAIMS ra je ct j. a Tr y COUNTER-AK CLAIMS K r-A e or y KNOWLEDGE CLAIMS (e. g. Anthropogenic Climate Change) t un Co Knowledge-Making Process Social Movements Interest Groups Think Tanks Scientists Business Groups lic o P

AK P ol icy T AK CLAIMS ra je ct j. a Tr y COUNTER-AK CLAIMS K r-A e or y KNOWLEDGE CLAIMS (e. g. Anthropogenic Climate Change) t un Co Knowledge-Making Process Social Movements Interest Groups Think Tanks Scientists Business Groups lic o P

AK P ol icy T AK CLAIMS ra je c j. COUNTER-AK CLAIMS P - to ry KNOWLEDGE CLAIMS (e. g. Anthropogenic Climate Change) u Co r te n K A Knowledge Making Process Social Movements Interest Groups Think Tanks Scientists Business Groups lic o a Tr y

ENGAGED SOCIAL ACTORS AK P ol icy T AK CLAIMS ra COUNTER-AK CLAIMS o P K je ct o ry r-A e t KNOWLEDGE CLAIMS (e. g. Anthropogenic Climate Change) y lic C un o j. a Tr

ENGAGED SOCIAL ACTORS Policy Making Process Policy A Institutional Outcome B Policy X AK T C D AK CLAIMS COUNTER CLAIMS raj e Considered cto Tr y c oli P K -A er ry C t un o aj. Policy Y

Knowledge and Policy Making ENGAGED SOCIAL ACTORS Policy Making Process Policy A Institutional Outcome B Policy X AK T C D AK CLAIMS COUNTER CLAIMS raj e Considered cto Tr y c oli P K -A er ry C t un o KNOWLEDGE MAKING PROCESS aj. Policy Y

Think Tanks Our Model Think Tanks Social Movements Biotechnology Washington Consensus

Social Movements Our Model Think Tanks Social Movements Biotechnology Washington Consensus

Social Movements Workshop on Contentious Knowledge & the Diffusion of Social Protest November 9 -10, 2007 423 ILR Conference Center, Cornell University The Diffusion of Social Movements: Actors, Frames, and Political Effects. Rebecca Kolins Givan, Kenneth Roberts and Sarah Soule, Eds. Forthcoming, Cambridge University Press.

The Diffusion of Social Movements: Actors, Frames Table of Contents Part I: Diffusion and the Framing of Contentious Politics Part II: Mechanisms of Diffusion Part III: Diffusion, Scale Shift, and Organizational Change

Biotechnology Our Model Think Tanks Social Movements Biotechnology Washington Consensus

Puzzle: A Persistent Global Cognitive Rift on Biotechnology

http: //www. worldproutassembly. org/archives/2008/05/global_famine. html Global Famine Moralists of the world - unite! With the widespread adoption of GMO seeds, a major transition has occurred in the structure and history of settled agriculture since its inception 10, 000 years ago. … This destructive pattern – invariably resulting in famine – is replicated in country after country leading to the Worldwide demise of the peasant economy. - Michel Chossudovsky Global Research, May 2, 2008

Global Diffusion of Transgenic Crops, by Area: 1996 -2007

Reciprocal Diffusion of GMO -Free Zones (Europe) European Regions to Sign a "GMO-free Resolution" by political unit, 2007 & 2009 Region¹ Provinces, Prefectures & Departments Local Governments Individuals 2007 2009 % Change 167 196 14. 8 53 93 43. 0 4, 278 4, 567 6. 3 27, 100 30, 370 10. 8 Source: www. gmo-free-regions. org. Accessed April 2009 ¹ As defined by the Asembly of European Regions (AER)

GMO-free Zones: Europe 2007

GMO-free Zones: Europe 2009

A Contentious-Knowledge Take on the Dialectical Diffusion Puzzle Steep technology diffusion curve explicable Material-interest-based market ties among agriculturalists Permeable state-surveillance and control => stealth seeds globally Effective ideational opposition less self-evident Cartagena Protocol [2000/2003] on bio-safety enables choke points in every nation Epistemic brokers mediate authoritative knowledge TANs supply authoritative risk narratives/data NGOs supply confirming risk narratives/data

Epistemic Brokers as Hinges between Networks: The Case of Bt Cotton in India Transnational Advocacy Network Affiliated NGO Networks Truth Claims Monsanto’s Terminator Gene; MNC Patents Canadian website [RAFI] Prince Charles: “I blame GM crops for farmer suicides in India” October 2008 Truth Claims Bt Cotton Disasters Dead Sheep, Suicides Epistemic Brokers CSA, DDS, Navdanya Local NGO Projects/Mvts [CROPS Jangaon]

M 1: 25 - 4: 25 pm Myron Taylor Hall Seminar Room 4 credits Professors: Ron Herring and Janice Thies rjh 5@cornell. edu; jet 25@cornell. edu

The Washington Consensus and Social Protest in Latin America Our Model Think Tanks Social Movements Biotechnology Washington Consensus

What Was the Washington Consensus? Package of free market reforms— trade liberalization, privatization, liberalization of capital and labor markets, etc. Policy response to the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980’s

Market Reform in Latin America

What Made it Authoritative Knowledge? Grounded in neoclassical economic theory (especially the monetarist orthodoxy of the Chicago school) Strong support (and pressure) from U. S. government and international financial institutions (IMF, World Bank, private banks, etc. ) Policy design and implementation by Latin American “technocrats” (experts with postgraduate training in neoclassical economics in the U. S. ), often under the purview of the IMF

Social Sciences as Source of Authoritative Knowledge Highly contested or inconclusive empirical claims “Bundling” of empirical claims in larger bodies of knowledge with normative or ideological underpinnings

Central Empirical Claims of Neoclassical Economics Markets are the most efficient mechanism to allocate scarce assets and resources State intervention distorts market signals and creates economic inefficiency

“ Not only have individual financial institutions become less vulnerable to shocks from underlying risk factors, but also the financial system as a whole has become more resilient. ” — Alan Greenspan in 2004

T “ his modern risk-management paradigm held sway for decades. The whole intellectual edifice, however, collapsed in the summer of last year. . . Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders’ equity, myself included, are in a state of shocked disbelief. ” Alan Greenspan, 2008, testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Y “ ou had the authority to prevent irresponsible lending practices that led to the subprime mortgage crisis. You were advised to do so by many others, ” said Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, chairman of the committee. “Do you feel that your ideology pushed you to make decisions that you wish you had not made? ” Mr. Greenspan conceded: “Yes, I’ve found a flaw. I don’t know how significant or permanent it is. But I’ve been very distressed by that fact. ”

Washington Consensus

Social and Political Backlash to Washington Consensus Revival of social mobilization and protest (overthrow of pro-market governments in Argentina, Ecuador, and Bolivia) Election of new leftist presidents in 10 countries representing 2/3 of Latin America’s population

Types of Counter-Claims Direct counter-claims -- challenge central empirical claims (for example, questioning the ability of the economic model to generate growth and financial stability)

Types of Counter-Claims “Unpacking” counter-claims -- Disaggregate authoritative claims, shift the level of analysis (e. g. , emphasis on social group or sectoral effects rather than aggregate outcomes– for example, the effects of privatization on workers or municipal water supplies)

Types of Counter-Claims Orthogonal counter-claims -- reframe the issue agenda (i. e. , shift to a different set of issues) Examples: Social inequality/injustice frame (distribution of costs and benefits) Local/national autonomy frame (control over natural resources) Democracy/popular sovereignty frame (opposition to technocratic policymaking)

Master Counter-Frame Critique of neoliberal globalization as “master counter-frame” incorporating all the above, allowing broad-based social and political coalitions

Opposition Coalitions: New Social Bases Less rooted in productive relations and classbased collective action Greater orientation toward consumption and social services, ethnic identities, and territorial organization

Opposition Coalitions: New Organizational Brokers Decline of centralized, hierarchical party and union organizations Pluralization of social actors New associational networks– loose linkages between NGO’s, community organizations, indigenous movements, etc.

Social Protests in Bolivia

The Framing of Counter. Claims Group or sectoral economic interests (labor, etc. ) Macro-level performance failures (limited growth, financial instability) Social inequality/injustice frame (distribution of costs and benefits) Local/national autonomy frame (control over natural resources) Democracy/popular sovereignty frame (opposition to technocratic policymaking) Critique of neoliberal globalization as “master frame” incorporating all the above, allowing broad-based social and political coalitions

Concluding Notes: Our Model Think Tanks Social Movements Biotechnology Washington Consensus