AgriFood-Report 2013:1

Food ambassadors - a political vision in a social network


Authors: Carolina Liljenstolpe 


Note that the report is written in Swedish.

The aim of the political vision "Sweden - the new culinary nation" is to promote rural development through investments in for instance tourism and new jobs. As part of the vision, the Minister of Rural Affairs has appointed food ambassadors representing the focus areas of the vision in Sweden's 26 provinces. The food ambassadors represent different parts of the food sector; the varying backgrounds of the ambassadors imply that they have social networks of different compositions, with actors of varying importance.

This report aims at examining how social networks and embeddedness affect how the political vision is conveyed. Furthermore, the key actors of the social networks are identified.

The results indicate that embeddedness in the professional network affects how well the vision is conveyed. Furthermore, the ambassador's attitudes to the political agenda in the focus areas as well as the ambassador´s gender to some extent explain the dissemination of the vision. Of specific importance in the networks are actors within regional or local food networks, municipalities and county councils. Connections and cooperation between ambassadors in the ambassador network are of less importance.

(in Swedish with English summary)

Authors:

Carolina Liljenstolpe

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