Domain D: Networks

Abstract

AbstractIn this chapter we examine how local organizations, affinity groups and the formal and informal networks they form provide the basis for the collective, coordinated actions needed for agroecological transformation at different scales. Civil society-driven networks are crucial because they facilitate a kind of cooperation that cannot be generated by the market or the state. On the other hand, the absence of appropriate networks can substantially limit agroecological transition, for example where political dynamics undermine or weaken the development of networks for collective action. Another disabling dimension of this domain is the compartmentalization of networks (e.g. by commodity group), which is a contradiction to the holism of agroecology. Perhaps most challenging is the growing individualization of society that is creating a growing barrier to cooperativism.