LAUSR

ABSTRACT Scholars of public policy point to standards as a new form of food and agriculture policy-making. The contribution complements this literature applying analytical concepts from International Relations research and organizational theory. Taking into account the increasingly complex and fluid nature of global food politics, the study undertakes a critical re-evaluation of the organizational field approach. Considering the interconnectedness of structure and agency it adds the concepts of entrepreneurship and calibration to the analysis of global organizational fields. The empirical analysis conducts a qualitative historical examination of the construction of the organizational field of organic agriculture policy-making through standards. It traces three phases of institutional development, identifies areas of contestation and distinct paths of institutional change influenced by the interplay of entrepreneurship and the institutional dynamics of structuration, homogenization and calibration.