Paving a Way towards Food Democratisation: Mechanisms in Contentious Niche Development

Transition scholars have argued that the analysis of the agency of local civil society actors in their political struggle to transform the food system is necessary. In response, we complement the multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions with the mechanism-process approach of contentious politics. This framework guides our qualitative analysis of a local movement called “The Way of Mals” in South Tyrol, Italy. This movement aimed to ban pesticides by developing a niche of food democratisation. We investigate how the local movement strategically mobilised citizens to get actively engaged in the local governance of food. We argue that the creation of political opportunities by the movement was crucial for their claim making. Amongst others, they introduced a legally binding local referendum on the ban on chemical–synthetic pesticides. We call this mechanism “paving”. In combination with meaning-making and networking, paving has led to the democratisation of local food governance. We conclude that the agency of local movements is especially reflected in their capacity to readjust in response to suppression efforts of their opponents in the well-established conventional regime. We suggest comparisons with similar cases for future research.