Ronald Herring | Cornell University (original) (raw)

Papers by Ronald Herring

World Bank, Washington, 2000

... land reform in Kerala, India was precipitated by reform initiatives that were too ambitious .... more ... land reform in Kerala, India was precipitated by reform initiatives that were too ambitious ... These services were mandated by the British colonial government of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon ... Many contemporary public sector reforms involve shifting authority for operational decisions to ...

Economic Development and Cultural Change, Apr 1, 1997

New Horizons in Medical AnthropologyRethinking Indian Political InstitutionsKashmir in the Shadow... more New Horizons in Medical AnthropologyRethinking Indian Political InstitutionsKashmir in the Shadow of WarState Violence and Punishment in IndiaThe Struggle for EqualityNon-discrimination and Equality in IndiaMiddle Class, Media and ModiThe Rise of Hindu AuthoritarianismThe Crisis of Secularism in IndiaFuture of Multicultural BritainThe Furies of Indian CommunalismCommunalism ContestedLived Islam in South AsiaHindu Nationalism and the Language of Politics in Late Colonial IndiaThe Argumentative IndianPresenting the PastIslam and the Orientalist World-systemDivided We GovernStudies in History and PoliticsConference ProceedingsSocial Movements in IndiaAlternative IndiasReligion and DemocratizationsPolitics, Identity, and Mobility in Travel WritingThe Rhetoric of HindutvaPolitical Mobilisation and Democracy in IndiaThe Terrorist PrinceReligion und GewaltThe Furies of Indian Communalism : Religion, Modernity and SecularizationGender, Governance and Empowerment in IndiaThe Territories and ...

A major development challenge facing us today is How can poor developing countries change paths t... more A major development challenge facing us today is How can poor developing countries change paths to make institutional settings more conducive to growth and poverty reduction? Experience and research have shown that the nature of formal and informal institutions go far towards shaping countries ’ development paths. 1 Much work is being

Journal of Agrarian Change, 2008

This essay introduces a special issue of the Journal of Agrarian Change on transnational agrarian... more This essay introduces a special issue of the Journal of Agrarian Change on transnational agrarian movements (TAMs). The contributors' methods and subjects vary widely in geographical, temporal and political scope. The contributors to this collection share an understanding of TAMs' complexity that grows out of an appreciation of the complicated historical origins and the delicate political balancing acts that necessarily characterize any effort to construct cross-border alliances linking highly heterogeneous organizations, social classes, ethnicities, political viewpoints and regions. This introductory essay outlines the TAMs' deep historical roots and also explains why and how the authors in this collection see this complexity as an essential element in understanding TAMs. This complexity can be understood by looking at seven common themes: (i) representation and agendas, (ii) political strategies and forms of actions, (iii) impact, (iv) TAMs as arenas of action between different (sub)national movements, (v) class origins, (vi) ideological and political differences and (vii) the dynamics of alliance-building. By acknowledging TAMs' contradictions, ambiguities and internal tensions, the authors also seek, from the standpoint of engaged intellectuals, to advance a transformative political project by better comprehending its origins, past successes and failures, and current and future challenges.

PS: Political Science & Politics, 1980

Im prove ments to agri cul ture will con sti tute one of the world's great est chal lenge... more Im prove ments to agri cul ture will con sti tute one of the world's great est chal lenges in the com ing cen tury. Po lit i cal and so cial con tro ver sies, as well as com pli ca tions of plant breed ing, in tel lec tual prop erty, and reg u la tion, have com pro mised the promised im pact of ge ‐ net i cally en gi neered – typ i cally trans genic – crops des ig nated as " GMOs. " Genome edit ing is a new suite of mol e c u lar tools for as sist ing bi ol o gists iden tify genes that con trol agro nomic traits such as drought tol er ance and pest re sis tance, as well as to elu ci date how ex pres sion of these genes is in ter twined within the func tional frame work of the cell. This tech nol ogy has re cently gained mo men tum for its abil ity to ac cel er ate the crop breed ing process in an un ‐ prece dented fash ion and ex pand the range of crop va ri eties with im proved pre ci sion and lower costs. This re view ex plains the basic con cepts and pro vides ex am ples of how genome edit ing could help ad dress the United Na tion's Sus tain able De vel op ment Goals with re spect to food, agri cul ture, and med i cine. It con cludes with a dis cus sion of the po ten tial so cial im ‐ pact of genome edit ing and gene drive. These ef fects are con tin gent on the res o lu tion of novel eth i cal and reg u la tory chal lenges that add new lay ers of com plex ity to so ci etal ques tions of ap pro pri ate tech nol ogy, in agri cul ture and be yond. We ex pect these ques tions to re place the ir re solv able GMO de bate.

The political economy of agricultural biotechnology is addressed in this review through three puz... more The political economy of agricultural biotechnology is addressed in this review through three puzzles. First, why were new crop technologies of the Green Revolution readily accepted, versus today's considerable blockage of genetically engineered crops? Second, why has genetic engineering in medicine and pharmaceuticals been normalized, whereas recombinant DNA technology in agriculture is highly restricted? Finally, why is there greater political acceptance of agricultural biotechnology in some countries versus others, for some crops versus others, and for some crop traits versus oth-ers? Explanation requires an extended theoretical framework of regulation that goes beyond a vector sum of weighted material interests. Consideration must also be given to the social construction of risk, political structure, and social psychology. A full political economy of agricultural biotechnology must consider not only costs and benefits to multiple actors in different societies within the classic interest-group and regulator model but also the transnational diffusion of ideologies, with attendant costs to poorer farmers and countries.

Syllabus for Politics of Science Research and Writing Seminar, Biology and Society 4291/ Science ... more Syllabus for Politics of Science Research and Writing Seminar, Biology and Society 4291/ Science and Technology Studies 4291/ Government 4291 Cornell University 2016

... 16, 2001 Contributors* Ravi Kanbur (Editor) Robert Chambers Patti Petesch Norman Uphoff Marti... more ... 16, 2001 Contributors* Ravi Kanbur (Editor) Robert Chambers Patti Petesch Norman Uphoff Martin Ravallion Francois Bourguignon David Sahn Caroline Moser Christopher Barrett David Booth Vijayendra Rao Luc Christiaensen Jesko Hentschel Paul Shaffer Rosemary McGee ...

Ronald J. Herring, “From ‘Fanaticism’ to Power: Deep Roots of Kerala’s Agrarian Exceptionalism,” ... more Ronald J. Herring, “From ‘Fanaticism’ to Power: Deep Roots of Kerala’s Agrarian Exceptionalism,” in William
[Vijay] Pinch ed Speaking of Peasants: Essays on Indian History and Politics in Honor of Walter Hauser (New Delhi: Manohar). 2008.

Much of the literature on agricultural biotechnology is agro-eco- nomic. How material facts on th... more Much of the literature on agricultural biotechnology is agro-eco-
nomic. How material facts on the ground relate to a unique set
of politics determining deployment of the technology is less dis-
cussed. This article begins with the global rift over biotechnol-
ogy in agriculture generated by national and transnational
political forces. Rival sides of the rift evoke radically divergent
positions on potential, performance, and outcomes. India has
been influenced by and contributed to both global discourse and political forces. India’s national experience helps in understanding the relative roles of ideas and interests in driving politics around rDNA plants and regulatory outcomes: what can be legally grown where and under what conditions?
Ideas havebee n especially important in a distal and enabling way by legitimating regulatory law that subjects GMOs to a politics of risk, in which normal science is vulnerable. Nevertheless, despite distinct political advantages, risk
politics as driven by ideas of threat and danger confront material economic interests. Interactive effects mutually drive outcomes, critically mediated by political structure -- where regulatory power is located within the state. Limits to risk politics are clearly illustrated in the brief history of Bt cotton in India, in which farmer interests overcame both regulatory precaution and campaigners organized around ideas of
risk and rural catastrophe. Hypothetical or anticipatory risks did,
however, block India’s second transgenic crop—Bt brinjal (egg-
plant)—despite approval by state science, not because of retail
politics but rather because of the structure of regulatory power
consistent with precautionary logics prominent in international risk politics.

Previous review was somehow truncated, here's the original published form. Sorry for the earlier ... more Previous review was somehow truncated, here's the original published form. Sorry for the earlier glitch. Ron

Agricultural biotechnology has been a project of India’s developmental state since 1986, but impl... more Agricultural biotechnology has been a project of India’s developmental state since 1986,
but implementation generated significant conflict. Sequential cases of two crops carrying
the same transgene – Bt cotton and Bt brinjal (eggplant/aubergine) – facing the same
authorization procedures produced different outcomes. The state science that
approved Bt cotton was attacked as biased and dangerously inadequate by opponents,
but the technology spread to virtually universal adoption by farmers. Bt aubergine
was approved by the same Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), but
the decision was overruled, the GEAC downgraded and a moratorium imposed on the
crop. Resultant conflicts engaged international networks, expanded the domestic
arena in which science is contested and instigated restructuring of institutions for
governance of genetic engineering. Divergent trajectories of the two crops
corresponded to global patterns, but also reflected differences in agro-ecologies and
state interests. In Bt cotton, state and cultivator interests dominated precautionary
logics; in Bt eggplant, politics of risk dominated questions of agro-economics. The
cases illustrate both the inherent vulnerability of science in politics and specific
vulnerabilities of science embedded in particular institutions. Differences in
institutional specificity of state science matter politically in explaining variation
across countries in adoption and rejection of genetically engineered crops.
Keywords: agriculture; biotechnology; India; Bangladesh; politics of science; Bt
cotton; Bt brinjal; Bt eggplant (aubergine); bio-safety; risk; GMO; regulation; food
safety

World Development, Jan 1, 1983

Numerous observers rightly term the landless rural population the ‘most intractable development p... more Numerous observers rightly term the landless rural population the ‘most intractable development problem’ in poor societies. Given the extraordinary political and administrative obstacles to redistrubution of rural assets in India (the widely-recognized failture land reforms), attention and finances have recently been focused on public rural employment programmes to alleviate rural distribution. Within India, the State of Maharashtra, with a size and population of a large European nation, has instituted a striking departure from traditional rural works programmes: a guarantee of employment to rural adults on demand. The Employment Guarantee Scheme in one state has since become a significant policy model, and the experience in that state provides something like a laboratory for its analysis. Based on analysis of previous studies and original field work in rural Maharashtra, the article argues that the scheme is something of a rare bird: a programme which seems to be in the objective and subjective interests of the rural poor, as well as consistent with the interests of the rural landed elite, despite their early political objections. The fiscal structure of the scheme is a direct contradiction of Lipton's (1977) model of ‘urban bias’ in Third World development strategies; the Employment Guarantee Scheme is rather more a manifestation of ‘kulak power’. Though promulgated as an alternative to policies entailing redistribution of rural assets, and clearly superior to doing nothing about rural distribution, the scheme is inferior to genuine redistribution in terms of altering the rural political economy. The functions, if not the motivations, of the scheme are profoundly conservative in a structural sense, politically and economically; the philosophical underpinnings, and perhaps, potentially, the consequences for mobilization of the rural poor, are quite the opposite.

Agricultural biotechnology has been a project of India’s developmental state since 1986, but impl... more Agricultural biotechnology has been a project of India’s developmental state since 1986, but implementation generated significant conflict. Sequential cases of two crops carrying the same transgene – Bt cotton and Bt brinjal (eggplant/aubergine) – facing the same authorization procedures produced different outcomes. The state science that approved Bt cotton was attacked as biased and dangerously inadequate by opponents, but the technology spread to virtually universal adoption by farmers. Bt aubergine was approved by the same Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), but the decision was overruled, the GEAC downgraded and a moratorium imposed on the crop. Resultant conflicts engaged international networks, expanded the domestic arena in which science is contested and instigated restructuring of institutions for governance of genetic engineering. Divergent trajectories of the two crops corresponded to global patterns, but also reflected differences in agro-ecologies and state interests. In Bt cotton, state and cultivator interests dominated precautionary logics; in Bt eggplant, politics of risk dominated questions of agro-economics. The cases illustrate both the inherent vulnerability of science in politics and specific vulnerabilities of science embedded in particular institutions. Differences in institutional specificity of state science matter politically in explaining variation across countries in adoption and rejection of genetically engineered crops.
Keywords: agriculture; biotechnology; India; Bangladesh; politics of science; Bt cotton; Bt brinjal; Bt eggplant (aubergine); bio-safety; risk; GMO; regulation; food safety

World Bank, Washington, 2000

Economic Development and Cultural Change, Apr 1, 1997

Journal of Agrarian Change, 2008

PS: Political Science & Politics, 1980

World Development, Jan 1, 1983

Agricultural biotechnology has been a project of India’s developmental state since 1986, but impl... more Agricultural biotechnology has been a project of India’s developmental state since 1986, but implementation generated significant conflict. Sequential cases of two crops carrying the same transgene – Bt cotton and Bt brinjal (eggplant/aubergine) – facing the same authorization procedures produced different outcomes. The state science that approved Bt cotton was attacked as biased and dangerously inadequate by opponents, but the technology spread to virtually universal adoption by farmers. Bt aubergine was approved by the same Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), but the decision was overruled, the GEAC downgraded and a moratorium imposed on the crop. Resultant conflicts engaged international networks, expanded the domestic arena in which science is contested and instigated restructuring of institutions for governance of genetic engineering. Divergent trajectories of the two crops corresponded to global patterns, but also reflected differences in agro-ecologies and state interests. In Bt cotton, state and cultivator interests dominated precautionary logics; in Bt eggplant, politics of risk dominated questions of agro-economics. The cases illustrate both the inherent vulnerability of science in politics and specific vulnerabilities of science embedded in particular institutions. Differences in institutional specificity of state science matter politically in explaining variation across countries in adoption and rejection of genetically engineered crops.
Keywords: agriculture; biotechnology; India; Bangladesh; politics of science; Bt cotton; Bt brinjal; Bt eggplant (aubergine); bio-safety; risk; GMO; regulation; food safety

Senior undergraduate course for majors at Cornell in: Biology and Society; Science and Technology... more Senior undergraduate course for majors at Cornell in: Biology and Society; Science and Technology Studies; Government.

There is no robust and parsimonious explanation for differences in diffusion of agricultural biot... more There is no robust and parsimonious explanation for differences in diffusion of agricultural biotechnology across countries or across time. Variables that delineate common political rifts in international trade and politics fail to explain variation. The one constant is a risk-utility balance, filtered through structures of regulatory mechanisms and their associated political ecology: Agriculture vs Environment ministries, eg. This paper assesses in a preliminary way political prospects of new technologies for genetic engineering of agricultural plants, especially CRISPR-Cas9. The frontiers of plant breeding are moving away from transgenesis as dominant form of plant breeding and test of what requires special regulation-a 'GMO' or 'LMO.' New regulatory constructs treat gene-edited plants more as mutagenized crops-in a targeted rather than random way. Since the thousands of mutagenized agricultural plants have been immune to regulation as 'GMOs' – and can be 'organic'-this political battle for definition will shape the future diffusion of agricultural – and other – biotechnologies globally, marking the end of pointless battles over the 'GMO.' Because of the utility of new techniques for consumers and farmers alike – unlike transgenic plants for the most part – as well as for the environment and human health, the risk-utility balance is being fundamentally altered.

There is no robust and parsimonious explanation for differences in diffusion of agricultural biot... more There is no robust and parsimonious explanation for differences in diffusion of agricultural biotechnology across countries or across time. Variables that delineate common political rifts in international trade and politics fail to explain variation. The one constant is a risk-utility balance, filtered through structures of regulatory mechanisms and their associated political ecology: Agriculture vs Environment ministries, eg. This paper assesses in a preliminary way political prospects of new technologies for genetic engineering of agricultural plants, especially CRISPR-Cas9. The frontiers of plant breeding are moving away from transgenesis as dominant form of plant breeding and test of what requires special regulation -- a 'GMO' or 'LMO.' New regulatory constructs treat gene-edited plants more as mutagenized crops -- in a targeted rather than random way. Since the thousands of mutagenized agricultural plants have been immune to regulation as ‘GMOs’ – and can be ‘organic’ - this political battle for definition will shape the future diffusion of agricultural – and other – biotechnologies globally, marking the end of pointless battles over the ‘GMO.’ Because of the utility of new techniques for consumers and farmers alike – unlike transgenic plants for the most part – as well as for the environment and human health, the risk-utility balance is being fundamentally altered.