Investigating governance systems in the coffee global production network to assess how they affect small farmers

Small coffee producers typically occupy a disadvantageous position within the coffee global production network (GPN) despite their crucial role in growing and trading coffee. The purpose of this PhD is to investigate how the position of small farmers in the global coffee production system could be improved. This PhD investigates the coffee production governance landscape, the ongoing power dynamics, and the possibilities of altering governance systems, thus challenging the power dynamics that are locking small farmers into such a disadvantageous position.

A conceptual framework with four components was devised to address these issues drawing on: (1) the Global Production Network (GPN) approach, developed to investigate the complexity of production systems in the context of the global economy; (2) the “power cube”, a framework that enables the nuanced study of power relations; (3) a set of governance dimensions to classify voluntary standard certification schemes concerning the capacities of actors involved and, (4) the concept of empowerment to organise the alternatives that can be designed to alter existing power dynamics.

This study uses multiple qualitative methods, including a systematic research review of 87 academic and grey literature documents and the completion of 21 semi-structured interviews. It provides insights into the complexity of approaches to governance in the coffee GPN by developing a typology of governance systems and unveiling interactions that keep small farmers in a disadvantageous position. It offers a nuanced analysis of the power dynamics, drawing on the type of capacities held (or not) by small farmers in these governance systems and relating this to different types of power. Lastly, this thesis identifies empowering mechanisms for redesigning governance systems so the power dynamics locking small farmers in a disadvantageous position in the coffee GPN can be addressed.

Therefore, the contribution of this thesis can be unfolded in the following directions: Economic Geography literature by expanding the knowledge regarding the concept of production networks; Governance literature with the knowledge expansion of coffee governance systems under a comparative context, power theory with the use of the power cube in the context of the GPN approach and, development studies: with the knowledge expansion “of the concept of “durable empowerment”.