Pierre Walckiers

Scientific Discourses as Arguments of Authority in Legal and Political Fields: The Case of Seed Dematerialization and Its Legal Regime

This thesis project analyzes and criticizes the rhetoric use of scientific arguments in political and legal spheres. In fact, this project presents the way in which some legal and political actors invoke arguments of a scientific nature—presented as neutral and "objective" facts—to gain authority in political debates and avoid "subjectively" discussing these issues. Without undermining the importance of scientific arguments in political and legal contexts, this project examines how a scientific message (which may contain uncertainties, conflicts of interest, biases, etc.) can be taken up as a discourse of truth that becomes authoritative in all political and legal discussions.

Therefore, this research project deals with "hybrid" areas that require scientific expertise and have major societal implications. While these issues are highly topical in the context of the health crisis, the focus is on food security and the protection of genetic diversity, and more specifically on the international seed regime. This project contributes to existing research on the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), particularly in light of the consequences of seed dematerialization (looking on the negotiation on Digital Sequence Information – DSI). The dematerialization and digitization of seeds are profoundly changing the economics of the food system. While agro-industrial actors have obvious economic interests in these developments, they rely heavily on the use of scientific narratives to advocate for a certain interpretation limiting the reach of the ITPGRFA so that dematerialization is not bound by it.