ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how La Vía Campesina (LVC) has played a key role in carving out an autonomous space for civil society participation in the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), employing a pattern that does not follow the classical path of internationalisation with institutionalisation. LVC and its allies have carved out an autonomous space for diverse civil participation in the CFS by establishing an 'International Food Security and Nutrition Civil Society Mechanism' (CSM). The chapter reveals that the pattern built by social activists engaging in the CFS is neither linear nor static but rather dynamic, complex, and negotiated through relationships. LVC has played a central role as a working member of the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC), which has given a strong impetus to global networking and the opening up of a political space within the FAO.
