ABSTRACT
Regionalism is a traditional subject of international relations studies. This chapter argues that while some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) push for food sovereignty from the perspective of farmers, national governments interpret the concept in their agenda at regional level in political terms. It illustrates this argument with two case studies of NGOs opposing genetically modified (GM) crops – Danube Soya and National Association for Genetic Safety (NAGS). The 'Food Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation' was signed by President Medvedev on 30th January 2010 and includes the formal position of the Russian authorities on food security. The structure of the Doctrine consists of the identification of risks towards food security and possible policy responses. The Russian authority that controls the quality of agricultural production, known as Rosselkhoznadzor, has used the genetically modified organism (GMO) rhetoric to attempt to ban the export of animal feed from the European Community on the grounds that soya-based animal feed contains GMO.
