Adalgisa Martinelli
GEM-DIAMOND doctoral fellow
ESR 17 – Political Narratives and EU Legitimization: Between Unity and Dissensus
Adalgisa is a Marie Skłodowska Curie Fellow at the Université libre de Bruxelles and LUISS Guido Carli University. Her research focuses on European narratives for legitimization in the agri-food sector.
Host Institutions
The political narrative of Food Sovereignty: an instrument for European legitimation
Supervisors
- François Foret
- Mark Tatcher
Research abstract
The European Union (EU) is currently facing a complex landscape of shifting identities and values. This evolving political paradigm has also been affected by numerous internal and external challenges, to the point that the last few decades have been defiantly labelled as the age of permacrisis (Zuleeg et al., 2021).
Nowadays, much of the attention lies in understanding how these changes have impacted the political discourse within the EU and how it is inflaming the political debate at the national level. However, there is a significant gap on how this shifting paradigm is impacting the European agri-food sector, its policies and how the EU is responding to these evolving dynamics. This research proposal aims to demonstrate the transformative power of values in the agri-food sector. This power acts by shaping the decision making process as well as widespread political narratives and ideas. In years, the broadening of the European agricultural agenda called for regional, national and global actors to interact to solve new policy issues, despite being based upon different and, often conflicting, values.
The permacrisis decade has exposed the vulnerabilities of the European agri-food arena, thus gradually enlarging the EU agenda’s scope from the agricultural sector to a broader food system (IPES Food, 2019). At the current stage, many narratives may explain the changes in the modus operandi of the EU, something that already shows the pervasive shifting paradigm - from neoliberalism to neo-isolationism - taking now place in terms of food sovereignty. Food sovereignty and sovereignty may reconcile, without putting at risk European cohesion and legitimacy (Csirszki, 2022). By detecting these shifting narratives, it is argued that the new European food sovereignty proposal is a tool to silence narratives of dissensus over the EU's role and legitimacy. Aiming at answering the societal dissensus, the Commission’s response seems to switch from a performance rather than to compliance-based approach to the governance of the CAP, thus ensuring more flexibility to Member States (Blandford, 2019).
For this reason, the interplay in the agri-food sector is highly political and its pivotal role will determine the European raison d’etre in the next decade. As such, it deserves being duly investigated also for its consequences on the European Union project. Indeed, the food sovereignty agenda should be considered an example of striking success to reconcile Member States commitment to the European Union while gathering widespread support from civil society.
Nowadays, much of the attention lies in understanding how these changes have impacted the political discourse within the EU and how it is inflaming the political debate at the national level. However, there is a significant gap on how this shifting paradigm is impacting the European agri-food sector, its policies and how the EU is responding to these evolving dynamics. This research proposal aims to demonstrate the transformative power of values in the agri-food sector. This power acts by shaping the decision making process as well as widespread political narratives and ideas. In years, the broadening of the European agricultural agenda called for regional, national and global actors to interact to solve new policy issues, despite being based upon different and, often conflicting, values.
The permacrisis decade has exposed the vulnerabilities of the European agri-food arena, thus gradually enlarging the EU agenda’s scope from the agricultural sector to a broader food system (IPES Food, 2019). At the current stage, many narratives may explain the changes in the modus operandi of the EU, something that already shows the pervasive shifting paradigm - from neoliberalism to neo-isolationism - taking now place in terms of food sovereignty. Food sovereignty and sovereignty may reconcile, without putting at risk European cohesion and legitimacy (Csirszki, 2022). By detecting these shifting narratives, it is argued that the new European food sovereignty proposal is a tool to silence narratives of dissensus over the EU's role and legitimacy. Aiming at answering the societal dissensus, the Commission’s response seems to switch from a performance rather than to compliance-based approach to the governance of the CAP, thus ensuring more flexibility to Member States (Blandford, 2019).
For this reason, the interplay in the agri-food sector is highly political and its pivotal role will determine the European raison d’etre in the next decade. As such, it deserves being duly investigated also for its consequences on the European Union project. Indeed, the food sovereignty agenda should be considered an example of striking success to reconcile Member States commitment to the European Union while gathering widespread support from civil society.
Personal Research Bibliography (So Far)
Bardella, Jordan. Parliamentary Question «Europe’s Food Sovereignty in the Context of the War in Ukraine» E-001423/2022, European Parliament, May 2022. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2022-001423_EN.html
Belinska, Yanina, et al. «EU Agricultural Policy and Its Role in Smoothing the Sustainable Development of the EU’s Agricultural Areas». IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, vol. 628, fasc. 1, Gennaio 2021, p. 012030. Institute of Physics, https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/628/1/012030.
Blandford, David, e Alan Matthews. «EU and US Agricultural Policies: Commonalities and Contrasts». EuroChoices, vol. 18, fasc. 1, Aprile 2019, pp. 4–10, https://doi.org/10.1111/1746-692X.12217.
Bodnár, Katalin, and Tobias Schuler. «The Surge in Euro Area Food Inflation and the Impact of the Russia-Ukraine War». European Central Bank, June 2022, https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/economic-bulletin/focus/2022/html/ecb.ebbox202204_06~4e32074619.en.html.
Brunsø, Karen, et al. «Testing Relationships between Values and Food-Related Lifestyle: Results from Two European Countries». Appetite, vol. 43, no. 2, Oct. 2004, pp. 195–205. ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2004.05.001.
Carstensen, Martin B., and Vivien A. Schmidt. «Power through, over and in Ideas: Conceptualizing Ideational Power in Discursive Institutionalism». Journal of European Public Policy, vol. 23, no. 3, Mar. 2016, pp. 318–37. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2015.1115534.
Csirszki, Martin Milán. «Is There Room for Food Sovereignty Considerations in EU Competition Policy? A Theoretical Framework». Croatian Yearbook of European Law and Policy, vol. 18, Giugno 2022, p. 83−106-83−106, https://www.cyelp.com/index.php/cyelp/article/view/468.
Daugbjerg, Carsten, e Alan Swinbank. «An Introduction to the ‘New’ Politics of Agriculture and Food». Policy and Society, vol. 31, fasc. 4, Novembre 2012, pp. 259–70. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polsoc.2012.10.002.
European Economic and Social Committee (May 2023), «EU Food Sovereignty: The Role of Agriculture, Fisheries and Consumers», https://www.eesc.europa.eu/en/agenda/our-events/events/eu-food-sovereignty-role-agriculture-fisheries-and-consumers
«Europe Swings Right — and Reshapes the EU». POLITICO, 30 Giugno 2023, https://www.politico.eu/article/far-right-giorgia-meloni-europe-swings-right-and-reshapes-the-eu/.
F.A.O. (2004), «Voluntary Guidelines to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security»..
Ferrera, Maurizio, et al. «Maintaining the EU’s Compound Polity during the Long Crisis Decade». Journal of European Public Policy, Gennaio 2023, pp. 1–23. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2023.2165698.
Foote Natasha. «Commission Warns against Shift towards Protectionism in Agri-Food Sector». Euractiv press release, 23 April 2020, https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/commission-warns-against-shift-towards-protectionism-in-agri-food-sector/.
Galli, Francesca, et al. «How can policy processes remove barriers to sustainable food systems in Europe? Contributing to a policy framework for agri-food transitions». Food Policy, vol. 96, Ottobre 2020, p. 101871. ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2020.101871.
Gorzelak, Aleksander, et al. Controversies Over the European Value Added Created by CAP. 2017. Social Science Research Network, https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2929458.
Gray, John. «The Common Agricultural Policy and the Re-Invention of the Rural in the European Community». Sociologia Ruralis, vol. 40, no. 1, Jan. 2000, pp. 30–52. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9523.00130.
IPES Food (2019), «Towards a common food policy for the European Union. The policy reform and realignment that is required to build sustainable food systems in Europe». http://www.ipes-food.org/_img/upload/files/CFP_FullReport.pdf (accessed 7 September 2023)
McMichael, Philip, e Mindi Schneider. «Food Security Politics and the Millennium Development Goals». Third World Quarterly, vol. 32, fasc. 1, 2011, pp. 119–39. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/41059770.
McMichael, Philip. «Food System Sustainability: Questions of Environmental Governance in the New World (Dis)Order». Global Environmental Change, vol. 21, fasc. 3, agosto 2011, pp. 804–12. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.03.016.
Patel, R., «International Agrarian Restructuring and the Practical Ethics of Peasant Movement Solidarity». Journal of Asian and African Studies, vol. 41, no. 1/2, 2006, pp.71–93.
Sahakyan, Mher. «Multipolar World Order 2.0 and Colliding Interests in Ukraine: Russia, the EU, the US and China». 30 marzo 2023. Social Science Research Network, https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=4411981.
Sheingate, Adam D. «Agricultural Retrenchment Revisited: Issue Definition and Venue Change in the United States and European Union». Governance, vol. 13, no. 3, Apr. 2000, pp. 335–63. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1111/0952-1895.00137.
Theresa, Kuhn. «Grand theories of European integration revisited: does identity politics shape the course of European integration?», Journal of European Public Policy, vol. 26, no. 8, 2019, pp. 1213-1230, https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2019.1622588.
Tosun, Jale. «Party Support for Post-Exceptionalism in Agri-Food Politics and Policy: Germany and the United Kingdom Compared». Transforming Food and Agricultural Policy, Routledge, 2018.
Zuleeg, Fabian, Janis A. Emmanouilidis, Ricardo Borges de Castro (2021), «Europe in the age of permacrisis», Brussels: European Policy Centre.
Wittman, Hannah. «Food Sovereignty: A New Rights Framework for Food and Nature?» Environment and Society, vol. 2, fasc. 1, Settembre 2011, pp. 87–105,, https://doi.org/10.3167/ares.2011.020106.
Belinska, Yanina, et al. «EU Agricultural Policy and Its Role in Smoothing the Sustainable Development of the EU’s Agricultural Areas». IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, vol. 628, fasc. 1, Gennaio 2021, p. 012030. Institute of Physics, https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/628/1/012030.
Blandford, David, e Alan Matthews. «EU and US Agricultural Policies: Commonalities and Contrasts». EuroChoices, vol. 18, fasc. 1, Aprile 2019, pp. 4–10, https://doi.org/10.1111/1746-692X.12217.
Bodnár, Katalin, and Tobias Schuler. «The Surge in Euro Area Food Inflation and the Impact of the Russia-Ukraine War». European Central Bank, June 2022, https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/economic-bulletin/focus/2022/html/ecb.ebbox202204_06~4e32074619.en.html.
Brunsø, Karen, et al. «Testing Relationships between Values and Food-Related Lifestyle: Results from Two European Countries». Appetite, vol. 43, no. 2, Oct. 2004, pp. 195–205. ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2004.05.001.
Carstensen, Martin B., and Vivien A. Schmidt. «Power through, over and in Ideas: Conceptualizing Ideational Power in Discursive Institutionalism». Journal of European Public Policy, vol. 23, no. 3, Mar. 2016, pp. 318–37. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2015.1115534.
Csirszki, Martin Milán. «Is There Room for Food Sovereignty Considerations in EU Competition Policy? A Theoretical Framework». Croatian Yearbook of European Law and Policy, vol. 18, Giugno 2022, p. 83−106-83−106, https://www.cyelp.com/index.php/cyelp/article/view/468.
Daugbjerg, Carsten, e Alan Swinbank. «An Introduction to the ‘New’ Politics of Agriculture and Food». Policy and Society, vol. 31, fasc. 4, Novembre 2012, pp. 259–70. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polsoc.2012.10.002.
European Economic and Social Committee (May 2023), «EU Food Sovereignty: The Role of Agriculture, Fisheries and Consumers», https://www.eesc.europa.eu/en/agenda/our-events/events/eu-food-sovereignty-role-agriculture-fisheries-and-consumers
«Europe Swings Right — and Reshapes the EU». POLITICO, 30 Giugno 2023, https://www.politico.eu/article/far-right-giorgia-meloni-europe-swings-right-and-reshapes-the-eu/.
F.A.O. (2004), «Voluntary Guidelines to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security»..
Ferrera, Maurizio, et al. «Maintaining the EU’s Compound Polity during the Long Crisis Decade». Journal of European Public Policy, Gennaio 2023, pp. 1–23. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2023.2165698.
Foote Natasha. «Commission Warns against Shift towards Protectionism in Agri-Food Sector». Euractiv press release, 23 April 2020, https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/commission-warns-against-shift-towards-protectionism-in-agri-food-sector/.
Galli, Francesca, et al. «How can policy processes remove barriers to sustainable food systems in Europe? Contributing to a policy framework for agri-food transitions». Food Policy, vol. 96, Ottobre 2020, p. 101871. ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2020.101871.
Gorzelak, Aleksander, et al. Controversies Over the European Value Added Created by CAP. 2017. Social Science Research Network, https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2929458.
Gray, John. «The Common Agricultural Policy and the Re-Invention of the Rural in the European Community». Sociologia Ruralis, vol. 40, no. 1, Jan. 2000, pp. 30–52. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9523.00130.
IPES Food (2019), «Towards a common food policy for the European Union. The policy reform and realignment that is required to build sustainable food systems in Europe». http://www.ipes-food.org/_img/upload/files/CFP_FullReport.pdf (accessed 7 September 2023)
McMichael, Philip, e Mindi Schneider. «Food Security Politics and the Millennium Development Goals». Third World Quarterly, vol. 32, fasc. 1, 2011, pp. 119–39. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/41059770.
McMichael, Philip. «Food System Sustainability: Questions of Environmental Governance in the New World (Dis)Order». Global Environmental Change, vol. 21, fasc. 3, agosto 2011, pp. 804–12. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.03.016.
Patel, R., «International Agrarian Restructuring and the Practical Ethics of Peasant Movement Solidarity». Journal of Asian and African Studies, vol. 41, no. 1/2, 2006, pp.71–93.
Sahakyan, Mher. «Multipolar World Order 2.0 and Colliding Interests in Ukraine: Russia, the EU, the US and China». 30 marzo 2023. Social Science Research Network, https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=4411981.
Sheingate, Adam D. «Agricultural Retrenchment Revisited: Issue Definition and Venue Change in the United States and European Union». Governance, vol. 13, no. 3, Apr. 2000, pp. 335–63. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1111/0952-1895.00137.
Theresa, Kuhn. «Grand theories of European integration revisited: does identity politics shape the course of European integration?», Journal of European Public Policy, vol. 26, no. 8, 2019, pp. 1213-1230, https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2019.1622588.
Tosun, Jale. «Party Support for Post-Exceptionalism in Agri-Food Politics and Policy: Germany and the United Kingdom Compared». Transforming Food and Agricultural Policy, Routledge, 2018.
Zuleeg, Fabian, Janis A. Emmanouilidis, Ricardo Borges de Castro (2021), «Europe in the age of permacrisis», Brussels: European Policy Centre.
Wittman, Hannah. «Food Sovereignty: A New Rights Framework for Food and Nature?» Environment and Society, vol. 2, fasc. 1, Settembre 2011, pp. 87–105,, https://doi.org/10.3167/ares.2011.020106.
Adalgisa is a Marie Skłodowska Curie Doctoral Fellow at the Université libre de Bruxelles within the Horizon Europe GEM-DIAMOND project. Her doctoral project, supervised by François Foret (ULB) and Mark Thatcher (LUISS) focuses on the narrative of European food sovereignty as an instrument for EU legitimization.
She holds a MA in International Affairs and a BA in International and Diplomatic Sciences from University of Bologna. During her academic career, she studied in France at ESSCA Business School, at KU-Leuven and finalised her research thesis abroad in Pennsylvania at Dickinson College. Thanks to her research interest on EU agri-food policies, European funding schemes and local knowledge management in the agricultural sector, she worked as Research Assistant at Farm Europe - Brussels based Think Tank. Previously, she was a Junior European Project Manager at NGO Alphabet Formation and a MAECI CRUI trainee for the Italian Embassy in Kenya.
Adalgisa holds the America Giovani Award issued by the Italian Government (2022) to reward the best students for their academic talent and curriculum.
She holds a MA in International Affairs and a BA in International and Diplomatic Sciences from University of Bologna. During her academic career, she studied in France at ESSCA Business School, at KU-Leuven and finalised her research thesis abroad in Pennsylvania at Dickinson College. Thanks to her research interest on EU agri-food policies, European funding schemes and local knowledge management in the agricultural sector, she worked as Research Assistant at Farm Europe - Brussels based Think Tank. Previously, she was a Junior European Project Manager at NGO Alphabet Formation and a MAECI CRUI trainee for the Italian Embassy in Kenya.
Adalgisa holds the America Giovani Award issued by the Italian Government (2022) to reward the best students for their academic talent and curriculum.
Publications
Martinelli, A. & Gelhaus, L., (Forthcoming). Stakeholders. In Coman, R., Paternotte, D. and Ponjaert, F. (eds) Impact and Social Sciences: A Conceptual Index.
Martinelli, A. (Forthcoming). 'The EU is still the only trade player with a vision for animal welfare in trade'. Interview with Stephanie Ghislain. In Coman, R. and Ponjaert, F. Dissensus over Liberal Democracy: Key Conversations with Leading Voices. Springer.
Tartiu, V. E., Hurley, R., Baann, C., Nizzetto, L., Schettino, E., Martinelli, A., & others. (2024, December). Addressing the environmental sustainability of plastics used in agriculture: A multi-actor perspective. Cambridge Prisms: Plastics, 3, 1–44. https://doi.org/10.1017/plc.2024.34
Martinelli, A., (2018, November). I can see you. Edizione Era Nuova Publishing.
Academic Conferences
Martinelli, A. (2024). "The narrative of food sovereignty in the European Parliament", presented at the GIS-EURLAB Conference, Sciences Po, Lille, June 20th, 2024.
Martinelli, A. (2025). "The narrative of European food sovereignty: a new (hi)story", presented at the 2025 EUIA Conference, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, May 21st, 2025.
Martinelli, A. (2025). "Dissensus on the plate: a gastronationalist narrative of food sovereignty", to be presented at the 2025 Challenges to Europe Conference, University of Surrey, Surrey, May 28th, 2025.
Martinelli, A. (2025). "The narrative of European food sovereignty: an instrument for European legitimization", to be presented at the 2025 UACES Cpnference, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, September 2nd, 2025.
Webinars
Martinelli, A. (2025). "Food sovereignty or food security? Unpacking European narratives", presented at Food4Sustainability CoLAB webinar series on 'Food justice through science, May 15th, 2025.
Training
ECPR Winter School ì'Analysing your Qualitative Data with MAXQDA', March 2025
BIP 'Science Communication', March-June 2025
IAPPS School 'Mixing Methods: Discourse Analysis, Case Studies, and Interviews, October 2024
Martinelli, A. & Gelhaus, L., (Forthcoming). Stakeholders. In Coman, R., Paternotte, D. and Ponjaert, F. (eds) Impact and Social Sciences: A Conceptual Index.
Martinelli, A. (Forthcoming). 'The EU is still the only trade player with a vision for animal welfare in trade'. Interview with Stephanie Ghislain. In Coman, R. and Ponjaert, F. Dissensus over Liberal Democracy: Key Conversations with Leading Voices. Springer.
Tartiu, V. E., Hurley, R., Baann, C., Nizzetto, L., Schettino, E., Martinelli, A., & others. (2024, December). Addressing the environmental sustainability of plastics used in agriculture: A multi-actor perspective. Cambridge Prisms: Plastics, 3, 1–44. https://doi.org/10.1017/plc.2024.34
Martinelli, A., (2018, November). I can see you. Edizione Era Nuova Publishing.
Academic Conferences
Martinelli, A. (2024). "The narrative of food sovereignty in the European Parliament", presented at the GIS-EURLAB Conference, Sciences Po, Lille, June 20th, 2024.
Martinelli, A. (2025). "The narrative of European food sovereignty: a new (hi)story", presented at the 2025 EUIA Conference, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, May 21st, 2025.
Martinelli, A. (2025). "Dissensus on the plate: a gastronationalist narrative of food sovereignty", to be presented at the 2025 Challenges to Europe Conference, University of Surrey, Surrey, May 28th, 2025.
Martinelli, A. (2025). "The narrative of European food sovereignty: an instrument for European legitimization", to be presented at the 2025 UACES Cpnference, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, September 2nd, 2025.
Webinars
Martinelli, A. (2025). "Food sovereignty or food security? Unpacking European narratives", presented at Food4Sustainability CoLAB webinar series on 'Food justice through science, May 15th, 2025.
Training
ECPR Winter School ì'Analysing your Qualitative Data with MAXQDA', March 2025
BIP 'Science Communication', March-June 2025
IAPPS School 'Mixing Methods: Discourse Analysis, Case Studies, and Interviews, October 2024
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The road towards an edited volume: GEM-DIAMOND’s book project on dissensus over liberal democracy
15 March 2025
GEM-DIAMOND gathered to work on the book: 'Dissensus over liberal democracy: actors, policies, institutions'. By Serafine Dinkel & Adalgisa Martinelli
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Game on! How smart Science Communication can make agricultural policy engaging
17 October 2024
Adalgisa Martinelli discusses how science communication canturn the CAP into a board game
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Insights and reflections from the GIS Euro-Lab summer meeting 2024
4 September 2024
Adalgisa Martinelli presented a paper at the Euro-Lab Summer Meeting held in Lille on June 27-28, 2024
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The True Cost of Food: Unveiling and Internalizing Environmental and Social Costs
1 July 2024
Adalgisa Martinelli participated at the HORIZON project FOODCoST workshop hosted at University of Bologna
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What the EU is doing about food security and food sustainability?
23 April 2024
The European Parliamentary Research Service explored EU food security and sustainability with policy experts Antonio Albaladejo Roman and Vasileios Maragas