Politicizing the Use of Glyphosate in Europe: Comparing Policy Issue Linkage across Advocacy Organizations and Countries

Abstract

The European Citizens’ Initiative enables advocacy organizations to place policy issues on the political agenda. Which frames did advocacy organizations use to mobilize the support of citizens for the initiative on banning glyphosate and to politicize this issue? The article shows for France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Spain that some advocacy organizations linked the issue of glyphosate to the related issue of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and/or referred to the controversial Monsanto company in their mobilization campaigns and politicization strategies. Whether or not advocacy organizations linked glyphosate to GMOs/Monsanto was determined by their organizational goals.

Keywords:

• agenda setting
• policy frame
• politicization
• European Union
• country comparison
• advocacy organization comparison

Acknowledgements

This research benefited from financial support from the Field of Focus 4 “Self-Regulation and Regulation: Individuals and Organizations” at Heidelberg University and the Heidelberg Center for the Environment. We thank two anonymous reviewers, Peter Feindt, Marcus Koch, Sandra Schwindenhammer and Colette Vogeler for helpful comments on earlier drafts, Nora El-Awdan, Lucas Leopold, Leonhard Lübke and Paul Thalmann for research assistance and Laurence Crumbie for editing.

Supplemental data and research materials

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/13876988.2020.1762076.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Field of Focus 4 at Heidelberg University and the Heidelberg Center for the Environment.

Notes on contributors

Jale Tosun

Jale Tosun is professor of political science at the University of Heidelberg as well as a co-director of the Heidelberg Center for the Environment.

Frédéric Varone

Frédéric Varone is professor for public policy and head of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Geneva.