Logan Cochrane

The IPCC recommends transformative sustainable policymaking to build resilience and empower vulnerable communities. Yet, there is considerable debate about how sustainable agricultural transformations should be governed. Central to these debates is seed. We view sustainability transformations not as technological change, but as a battle of competing narratives, worldviews and sustainable futures by stakeholder coalitions. To exemplify these debates and narratives, this study uses qualitative and discursive research with a narrative policy framework analysis of seed governance reforms and debates in Ghana. In this battle, one coalition advances top-down, technology-driven narrative, while another employs community-based agroecology narratives. We show that when top-down narratives underpin legislative change to seed, sustainability transformations can be regressive, leading to outcomes that are unjust, and therefore, not sustainable. Our case reveals that counter narratives rooted in bottom-up governance systems can galvanize enough contestation to slow regressive change, reinforcing the importance of this for sustainability transformations.

The global food system is interconnected and rapidly changing. Numerous, often unpredictable, risks mean that countries must build resilience to withstand the shocks and disruptions. Strategic food reserves serve as one critical instrument in this effort. Although there is a substantial body of literature examining existing national reserve systems, there is limited literature that applies institutional theory to compare them across divergent contexts and to assess the multiple factors influencing their establishment, motivation, design, and governance. This paper examines how national food-reserve systems evolve in response to fundamentally different risk environments, under which institutional conditions, and for whom these reserves are designed. It employs a comparative case study analysis of three deliberately contrasting cases in structure, mandate, and governance: China, Ethiopia, and Qatar. The types span narrow humanitarian cereal stocks, multi-commodity portfolios, and whole-population insurance models, as well as purely state-administered systems and those relying on coordinated public–private arrangements. The results compare and contrast differences in strengths and weaknesses, and draw inferences and lessons to inform both the reform of existing reserves and the establishment of new ones. The findings illustrate that food-reserve effectiveness is contingent on how well design choices align with the threats a country faces and the population it seeks to protect. The paper offers transferable analytical lessons to guide policymakers in designing context-sensitive and institutionally coherent reserve systems.

Land is at the heart of social, political, and economic life in many African economies, which continue to rely on agriculture and natural resources for a significant share of GDP, national food nee...

The collection of open volunteered geographic information (VGI) has demonstrated its potential to enhance emergency humanitarian assistance by rapidly generating crisis maps that support coordination and delivery of relief efforts to vulnerable populations. However, VGI remains underutilized by formal response systems, often sidelined due to concerns over data accuracy, liability, and lack of capacity. This paper examines the role of civil society and local community champions in overcoming these barriers and driving both short‐ and long‐term impacts of VGI in the 2015 Nepal earthquake. Using perspectives from professionals engaged in VGI in Nepal both during and after the earthquake, we analyze how local leadership influenced the adoption of VGI by responders. Beyond the immediate crisis response, we explore examples of the “second stage” of impact, where the continued development of a mapping community of practice has contributed to lasting socio‐economic change, including the creation of a local map‐based economy. We highlight that community champions with high social capital play a disproportionate role in legitimizing and sustaining VGI's benefits and enhancing community resilience. We conclude by discussing intentional strategies to empower local leaders, bridge knowledge gaps, and develop evaluations that capture the long‐term contributions of local VGI collection beyond crisis response.

This chapter develops a framework of resilient nations, which provides a tool for examining why and how some nations were able to defeat, overcome or maneuver around imperialist and colonialist activities to retain their independence. Drawing upon eight country case studies (Japan, Mongolia, Thailand, Bhutan, Nepal, Afghanistan, Iran, Ethiopia), this chapter aims to identify common variables and group these into two overarching categories: agency-driven strategies and intrinsic factors. Agency-driven strategies include diplomatic maneuvering, strategic concessions, military resistance, isolationism, modernization, and the utilization or cultivation of national identity while intrinsic factors included geopolitical status, geography, strategy and economics as well as how they were leveraged to increase resilience. Using a comparative case study approach, we develop a co-occurrence matrix to advance our understanding of resilient nations. Rather than focusing on the enablers of colonialism or the power of empires, this chapter centers the agency of resilient nations and their strategies to resist imperial domination. We conclude the chapter by critically reflecting on existing theories, such as the explanatory power of buffer status or geography and argue for a more nuanced assessment that is rooted in national agency and the domestic agency-driven aspects of resilience building.

This book analyzed examples of nations and peoples that defied a trend; amidst expansionist efforts by hegemons, they remained independent, or comparatively so. This concluding chapter examines those historical cases to draw out lessons for leaders, governments and people today. The 2020s has been an era of transition, wherein contestation has (re)emerged. If such trends continue, as we expect they may, the historical insights from this book provides guidance for better-informed decision making today.

Few countries have remained independent over the last 600 years, centuries wherein waves of imperialist ambition, colonialism and conquest occurred. Many books have sought to understand why and how these expansions occurred, focusing attention on the expansionist countries. None have turned that question around, seeking answers to why and how some nations remained independent or retained greater degrees of sovereignty. There are histories of such countries, wherein this question has been asked as part of a broader country-specific historical analysis. Those efforts have identified or proposed traits and factors to explain the continuity of (complete or high degrees of) independence. Such studies have noted the role of environmental, social, political and/or external factors. This book presents full chapters on six such countries, with an additional two countries added in brief, enabling comparisons and contrasts to better understand how state resilience can be strengthened. This introductory chapter, and the broader book within which it resides, contributes to a literature that seeks to reorient the focus, from the expansionist to the defiant and resilient, covering Afghanistan, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Iran, Japan and Thailand. This introductory chapter presents some of the key terminology used in the book, analyzes which countries could or should be included in such a collection, and reviews some of the highlights of the chapters of the book.

The countries of the Arabian Peninsula are at the forefront of climate change impacts. The future habitability of the region has been called into question, creating uncertainties regarding adaptation efforts. Governments, research donors and institutions as well as individual researchers have responded by investing in climate change research focusing on the region. The evidence has improved dramatically over the last three decades. This Mini Review takes stock of what is known and conducts a macro-trend assessment of available evidence to identify areas that require greater attention. With the knowledge, resources and infrastructure available to it, the region is well positioned to overcome risks and become a global leader in arid living. We propose a research agenda to guide the next decade. If capitalized upon, this can transition the region from being at the forefront of climate change risks to the forefront of resilient living.

Social cohesion is eroding around the world, and governments are working to foster cohesiveness. This study explores how the State of Qatar has integrated social cohesion into its key strategic planning documents. We do so by integrating locally relevant conceptualizations, as well as Western ideas, of social cohesion. Our central analysis is of three key national documents: the Constitution of the State of Qatar, Qatar National Vision 2030, and the Third Qatar National Development Strategy 2024–2030. We coded each document for mentions of social cohesion along with eight other Western and Islamic concepts. We find that these legal and strategic policy blueprints integrate both traditions, thus creating a model of social cohesion that is rooted in the Qatari context while being cognizant of global principles. This study contributes to the broader decolonization of policy discourses by engaging new epistemological orientations for understanding and assessing social cohesion and its related concepts.