ABSTRACT

This chapter investigates the emergence of Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) in the global food system. In doing this, the chapter advances our understanding of the ‘financialization’ of the agri-food system while highlighting the redefined role of the state within agri-food politics that goes along with this development. Drawing on examples of SWFs from the Arab Gulf States and China we suggest that the emerging food-related activities of SWFs since 2007/08 not only point to the increasing enmeshment of financial motives and rationales in the agri-food system but also represent a novel form of state intervention in global food politics that can be described as ‘strategic financialization’. Strategic financialization points to the redefinition of state-driven food policies by making use of, and being linked to, financial entities and respective investment logics while simultaneously supporting strategic goals such as domestic food security strategies to maintain social stability or the redefinition of the state’s position within global agri-business. SWFs can thus be considered as hybrid players in the agri-food system, blending ‘state/public’ and ‘financial’ capital as well as ‘political/strategic’ and ‘return seeking’ objectives in novel ways. It is this hybrid and fluid nature where state and financial interests are becoming increasingly realigned that deserves further attention in agri-food studies.