TOILING INGENUITY - FOOD REGULATION IN BRITAIN AND NIGERIA

The article addresses the history of British and Nigerian food regulat ion as an example of the logic of regulatory processes in the modem hi story of metropolitan, colonial, and postcolonial countries. I argue t hat three relatively internally coherent models of regulation have bee n developed in Britain and that a fourth is under current construction . These models have replaced one another, but incompletely, in the met ropolitan repertoire. The previous models remain available, and groups within the metropolis advocate their mobilization with respect to oth er populations. In the struggle over implementation, the models are re plicated only partially, resulting in apparently anomalous dynamics. N igeria is used as an example. The article advocates the anthropologica l study of formal sector regulation as one of the most important polit ical processes in the current world.