International Meta-Organizations in Global Sustainability Standardization : An Epistemic Governance Analysis of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)
Kusaeni, Nadira Puteri (2021)
2021
Master's Programme in Global Society
Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2021-06-18
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202106075729
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202106075729
Tiivistelmä
The palm oil industry has sparked debates from multiple social actors: consumers, politicians, and nongovernmental organizations alike. They argue that palm oil plantations contribute to the destruction of the environment. While facing criticisms, palm oil businesses refer to its sustainable practices certified by international standards organizations, including the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). The RSPO is a palm oil multistakeholder international standards organization established in 2004 aiming to transform markets to make sustainable palm oil a norm. This attempt at social change puts the RSPO under the spotlight.
This thesis aims to study the RSPO’s attempt at social change and to contribute to empirical studies on the RSPO with an organizational and sociological perspective. This thesis first introduces the RSPO in light of recent academic studies then examines the role of international standards organizations in a globalized world. When examining recent studies, international standards organizations, including the RSPO, seem to fit in a category of meta-organizations, and thus an attempt to explain the RSPO as a meta-organization was made. To study the RSPO’s efforts at social change, an Epistemic Governance method was used in the analysis.
In RSPO’s epistemic works, this study found that the RSPO attempts to create a sense of community through identifying actors as mutually being part of the sustainable palm oil agenda. Furthermore, despite the existing critics toward the idea of sustainable palm oil which evokes the imagery of competing blocs in RSPO’s responses, the RSPO uses an imagery of modernization by stating its commitment to progress. The RSPO also portrays itself authoritative by referring to the four types of authority: ontological, capacity-based, moral, and charismatic, where internal and external bodies to the RSPO are mentioned.
While these findings provide a depiction of the RSPO as a social actor in the field of sustainable palm oil standardization, further studies should be conducted on the epistemic works of international standards organizations in other commodities to provide a bigger picture of the debates on sustainable practices. Moreover, when examining specific debates, on the topic of sustainable palm oil, for example, epistemic works on both sides of the debating parties should be analyzed.
This thesis aims to study the RSPO’s attempt at social change and to contribute to empirical studies on the RSPO with an organizational and sociological perspective. This thesis first introduces the RSPO in light of recent academic studies then examines the role of international standards organizations in a globalized world. When examining recent studies, international standards organizations, including the RSPO, seem to fit in a category of meta-organizations, and thus an attempt to explain the RSPO as a meta-organization was made. To study the RSPO’s efforts at social change, an Epistemic Governance method was used in the analysis.
In RSPO’s epistemic works, this study found that the RSPO attempts to create a sense of community through identifying actors as mutually being part of the sustainable palm oil agenda. Furthermore, despite the existing critics toward the idea of sustainable palm oil which evokes the imagery of competing blocs in RSPO’s responses, the RSPO uses an imagery of modernization by stating its commitment to progress. The RSPO also portrays itself authoritative by referring to the four types of authority: ontological, capacity-based, moral, and charismatic, where internal and external bodies to the RSPO are mentioned.
While these findings provide a depiction of the RSPO as a social actor in the field of sustainable palm oil standardization, further studies should be conducted on the epistemic works of international standards organizations in other commodities to provide a bigger picture of the debates on sustainable practices. Moreover, when examining specific debates, on the topic of sustainable palm oil, for example, epistemic works on both sides of the debating parties should be analyzed.