Matthew Gaudreau | University of Waterloo (original) (raw)

Papers by Matthew Gaudreau

Global Environmental Politics, 2014

What is China’s place in the global food system? This thesis provides an analytical lens to expla... more What is China’s place in the global food system? This thesis provides an analytical lens to explain the factors behind the structure of China’s national seed industry and recent global agribusiness expansion. Scholars of Global Political Economy and critical food studies have begun to assess the (re)emergence of actors from China in global markets replete with powerful agribusiness from the global North. However, these scholars have thus far paid less attention to the domestic, normative origins and dynamics that explain China’s place in the global food system. For example, though the global grain seed industry is highly concentrated, China’s domestic grain seed market does not share the same characteristics. To explain this discrepancy and shed light on the place of China in the global food system, I develop the concept of securitized foodways. Securitized foodways is built on a power framework that incorporates both positive and negative forms of power. Three dimensions of power (...

The Science of the total environment, Jan 21, 2016

Resilience-based management focuses on specific attributes or drivers of complex social-ecologica... more Resilience-based management focuses on specific attributes or drivers of complex social-ecological systems, in order to operationalize and promote guiding principles for water quality management in urban systems. We therefore propose a resilience lens drawing on the theory of adaptive capacity and adaptive cycle to evaluate the urban resilience between water quality and land use type. Our findings show that the resilience of water quality variables, which were calculated based on their adaptive capacities, showed adaptive and sustainable trends with dramatic fluctuation. NH3-N, Cadmium and Total Phosphorus experienced the most vulnerable shifts in the built-up area, agricultural areas, and on bare land. Our framework provided a consistent and repeatable approach to address uncertainty inherent in the resilience of water quality in different landscapes, as well as an approach to monitor variables over time with respect to national water quality standards. Ultimately, we pointed to the political underpinnings for risk mitigation and managing resilient urban system in a particular coastal urban setting.

Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation, 2015

The articles by Friedmann, Koç and Wise draw out overarching issues in the world food system, off... more The articles by Friedmann, Koç and Wise draw out overarching issues in the world food system, offering complementary views of the relationship between the dominant model of the world food system and its myriad issues. This contribution uses the concept of transnational policy paradigms to illustrate the key tension between the status quo of food policy and emerging alternatives.

Facing China as a New Global Superpower, 2015

In recent years, particularly since 2000, there has been much discussion regarding the accelerati... more In recent years, particularly since 2000, there has been much discussion regarding the acceleration of China’s presence in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). China’s increasing engagement with the countries of SSA, and larger South–South development partnerships, has had a ripple effect throughout communities of scholars and development practitioners. Surely, China’s role in South–South cooperation will continue to be of great importance throughout the twenty-first century. As the second largest economy in the world, the increasing international influence held by China, and its multifaceted engagement with other developing countries, gives cause to consider China’s role in relation to “traditional” international development actors. However, discussion has often remained in the realm of macroeconomics and state-to-state analysis, with less attention paid to the details of local- and sectoral-level activities. As such, the current analysis of China’s presence in SSA has too often been very broad, with little examination of the complexities and pluralities of this relationship with regard to entrenched international actors and third-party partnerships.

The Journal of Environment & Development, 2015

Rapid urbanization and industrialization have placed significant pressure on ecological systems i... more Rapid urbanization and industrialization have placed significant pressure on ecological systems in China. This study investigates a network of local environmental organizations working to combat pollution in Nanjing’s Qinhuai River. Research in adaptive governance has pointed to the importance of such nonstate actors in contributing to responsive management of ecosystems. However, these actors are embedded in larger political contexts that constrain their ability to exchange information and contribute to improved ecosystem governance. A network approach is used to provide empirical detail of relationships among nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and government while applying theory from Chinese politics to explain barriers and opportunities to adaptive governance. The results reveal the dominant corporatist relationship between the state and a single designated NGO, while also uncovering a separate group of information producing NGOs. Studies in adaptive governance can apply simil...

The series is directed at public servants operating at the science/policy interface in Canada and... more The series is directed at public servants operating at the science/policy interface in Canada and abroad. It has been designed to bring forth some themes and findings in academic studies for the purpose of synthesis, knowledge transfer and discussion. This paper reviews what we know about how uncertainty is understood and communicated in the policy making environment. It concludes there are multiple sources of uncertainty and that how these are understood differs among actors at the science/policy interface. These uncertainties can arise from chance, myopia or intentionality. They can differ among disciplines, functional groups and individuals. Creating a common understanding of uncertainty can facilitate communication and build trust among the actors. Knowing what we don’t know is often the first step to reducing uncertainty and improving the quality of decisions. http://www.issp.uottawa.ca/eng/documents/ISSP2014-SPIBrief3-Uncertainty.pdf

The articles by Friedmann, Koç, and Wise draw out overarching issues in the world food system; is... more The articles by Friedmann, Koç, and Wise draw out overarching issues in the world food system; issues that resurface throughout this special issue of Canadian Food Studies. They offer complementary views where the dominant model, upon which transnational policies are created, ignores pressing concerns in the food system related to the distribution of food, human health, and the environment. In this contribution, I will use the concept of transnational policy paradigms to illustrate the key tension between the status quo of food policy and emerging alternatives. Focusing on this tension raises two important questions. First, what is the relationship between the dominant model of food policy (which shapes how we identify problems and solutions) and "less travelled" models that frame problems and solutions in a different way? Second, what are the obstacles blocking a paradigm shift? In order to answer these questions, the concept of "policy paradigm" will be unpacked, followed by an assessment of the long-emerging contest between the dominant productionist-neoliberal and alternative agroecological paradigms. Paradigms and production The concept of a "paradigm" refers to scientific communities, shared commitments/values, and the creation of common frameworks among them based on a shared framework for addressing a problem (Kuhn, 1970). Importantly, an implication of this is that paradigms are partly social in

Canadian Journal of Development Studies / Revue canadienne d'études du développement, 2018

This article examines reactions to global agribusiness concentration in the People's Republic of ... more This article examines reactions to global agribusiness concentration in the People's Republic of China (PRC). In many countries, there is a trend of agribusiness concentration among relatively few multinational corporations (MNCs), which is often challenged by various forms of resistance from local food movements. The article identifies distinct overlap in discourses within the PRC. Arguments made by Chinese state/corporate actors and those by actors from alternative food movements focus on contesting global agricultural capital. These commonalities reveal a discursive battleground in China that creates unique constraints (and opportunities) for food activists, given state food security priorities. RÉSUMÉ Cet article examine les réactions en République populaire de Chine (RPC) à la concentration mondiale de l'agro-industrie. Dans de nombreux pays, on observe une tendance à la concentration de l'agro-industrie entre quelques firmes multinationales, ce qui est souvent contesté par des mouvements alimentaires locaux à travers différentes formes de résistance. Cet article observe un certain chevauchement dans les discours en RPC. Les arguments des acteurs de l'État ou des firmes chinoises et ceux des acteurs des mouvements alimentaires alternatifs mettent tous l'accent sur la contestation du capital agricole mondial. Ces points communs révèlent un champ de bataille discursif en Chine qui crée, compte tenu des priorités de sécurité alimentaire de l'État, des contraintes (et des opportunités) uniques pour les militants de l'alimentation.

Resilience-based management focuses on specific attributes or drivers of complex social-ecologica... more Resilience-based management focuses on specific attributes or drivers of complex social-ecological systems, in order to operationalize and promote guiding principles for water quality management in urban systems. We therefore propose a resilience lens drawing on the theory of adaptive capacity and adaptive cycle to evaluate the urban resilience between water quality and land use type. Our findings show that the resilience of water quality variables, which were calculated based on their adaptive capacities, showed adaptive and sustainable trends with dramatic fluctuation. NH 3-N, Cadmium and Total Phosphorus experienced the most vulnerable shifts in the built-up area, agricultural areas, and on bare land. Our framework provided a consistent and repeatable approach to address uncertainty inherent in the resilience of water quality in different landscapes, as well as an approach to monitor variables over time with respect to national water quality standards. Ultimately, we pointed to the political underpinnings for risk mitigation and managing resilient urban system in a particular coastal urban setting.

When the initial discussion of land grabs began in 2008-09, China was identified as a primary sou... more When the initial discussion of land grabs began in 2008-09, China was identified as a primary source of actors engaged in land purchases leading to dispossession (GRAIN, 2008; Zoomers, 2010).
However, since these early reports, the centrality of China’s role in the global land grab has been questioned (Bräutigam & Zhang, 2013). This paper offers an alternative perspective to the existing
scholarship, instead using Chinese corporate actors in the grain sector (with varying attachment to the Chinese state) as a lens for understanding China’s role in global agrarian change. I argue that to define China’s role in global agrarian change with too strong a focus on grabbed land overlooks the massive changes in Chinese and global agribusiness, which themselves have tremendous implications for global land politics. Despite calls to broaden the focus from land (Amanor, 2012; Hall, 2013; White et al, 2012), land grab debates have remained centered on particular investments and expulsions at the expense of examining the broader restructuring of global agribusiness. Situating China’s broader
international agribusiness investments will help us to understand its broader orientation in global agrarian change, of which land grabs are only one part. As Lang (2010, 88) argues, focus must be on “food supply chains, beyond as well as including agriculture, because power and capital have moved off the land, controlling access to mostly urban markets.” Off-land developments in the grain sector help to explain aspects of the land grab and understand emerging influence on agrarian change. With
this in mind, cases from the seed and processing sectors will be examined to illustrate China’s position in relation to global agribusiness and land grabs. In order to situate the implications of China’s rise for global agrarian change, I will first examine China’s place in land grab explanations and the context of
the global agrifood system. I will then briefly examine current Land Matrix data and China’s developing agribusiness networks in both grain (including corn, rice, soybean) seed and processing/trade industries. The implications of these changes for global land food, land, and environmental politics are explored, noting that off-land changes have important relationships to
agrarian systems globally.

Facing China as a New Global Superpower, 2016

An analysis of the varying types of actors from China in activities related to Mali's rice sector.

Rapid urbanisation and industrialisation have placed significant pressure on ecological systems i... more Rapid urbanisation and industrialisation have placed significant pressure on ecological systems in China. This study investigates a network of local environmental organizations working to combat pollution in Nanjing's Qinhuai River. Research in adaptive governance has pointed to the importance of such nonstate actors in contributing to responsive management of ecosystems. However, these actors are embedded in larger political contexts that constrain their ability to exchange information and contribute to improved ecosystem governance. A network approach is used to provide empirical detail of relationships among NGOs and government while applying theory from Chinese politics to explain barriers and opportunities to adaptive governance. The results reveal the dominant corporatist relationship between the state and a single designated NGO, while also uncovering a separate group of information producing NGOs. Studies in adaptive governance can apply similar approaches to create a deeper interdisciplinary understanding of underlying political structures influencing information sharing and collaboration.

Reports by Matthew Gaudreau

Global Environmental Politics, 2014

The Science of the total environment, Jan 21, 2016

Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation, 2015

Facing China as a New Global Superpower, 2015

The Journal of Environment & Development, 2015

Canadian Journal of Development Studies / Revue canadienne d'études du développement, 2018

Resilience-based management focuses on specific attributes or drivers of complex social-ecologica... more Resilience-based management focuses on specific attributes or drivers of complex social-ecological systems, in order to operationalize and promote guiding principles for water quality management in urban systems. We therefore propose a resilience lens drawing on the theory of adaptive capacity and adaptive cycle to evaluate the urban resilience between water quality and land use type. Our findings show that the resilience of water quality variables, which were calculated based on their adaptive capacities, showed adaptive and sustainable trends with dramatic fluctuation. NH 3-N, Cadmium and Total Phosphorus experienced the most vulnerable shifts in the built-up area, agricultural areas, and on bare land. Our framework provided a consistent and repeatable approach to address uncertainty inherent in the resilience of water quality in different landscapes, as well as an approach to monitor variables over time with respect to national water quality standards. Ultimately, we pointed to the political underpinnings for risk mitigation and managing resilient urban system in a particular coastal urban setting.

Facing China as a New Global Superpower, 2016

An analysis of the varying types of actors from China in activities related to Mali's rice sector.