EXPLAINING CHANGE IN THE INTERNATIONAL AGROFOOD SYSTEM

This article serves as an introduction to the collection that follows. The articles engage with theoretical debates around the restructuring of international agro-food systems with particular emphasis on advanc ed industrial economies. This introductory article outlines the nature of recent changes in agro-food systems, introduces the contemporary d ebates around the causes and consequences of restructuring processes a nd identifies three arenas of creative tension which concern: the rela tionship between global processes and local change; the characterizati on of production systems as Fordist or flexibly specialist; and the re lationship between political economy and micro-sociological perspectiv es.