Sixteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

The democratization of coffee supply chains has the promise of simultaneously solving two problems in the international coffee industry. Causing coffee farmers and workers to have democratic representation in the deliberations of roasters and corporations would not only help to equalize the power disparity between the global coffee-consuming North and the coffee-producing South, it would also encourage sustainability since unsustainable practices most directly harm coffee farmers and workers. However, I argue that such democratization plans are theoretically unsound. First, in democratic theory the relationship between a citizen and state obligates democratic representation, whereas the relationship between a corporation and its workers makes democratic representation only supererogatory. Further, while Northern consumers can be reasonably expected to pressure corporations to avoid the most grievous of human rights abuses, they have neither the ability nor the inclination to lobby on behalf of farmers’ interests so as to truly democratize coffee supply chains. Finally, democratizing coffee supply chains requires us to think of corporations as a kind of quasi-state. Whether or not we regard that consequence as desirable, it shows that democratization does not fit contemporary international trade. Exploring these issues with democratization is the aim of this paper. This does not mean that we should abandon all attempts to democratize. A less than perfect solution may still produce concrete improvements. We should merely understand that sustainability and justified power relations in international coffee cannot be totally achieved through democratization of existing informal and plural powers. We will need other solutions.