Corporate Power in a Multistakeholder World: Venue Hopping and the Multilevel Politics of Ultra-Processed Food

Abstract

The regulation of business is increasingly characterized by “soft” governance regimes that blur the boundaries of public and private authority, as signaled by the rapid proliferation of multistakeholder initiatives in global governance. This article explores how the spread of multistakeholderism creates opportunities for new forms of strategic action, enabling actors to participate in multiple fora, successively or simultaneously in order to pursue a particular agenda. The article focuses on multistakeholder initiatives in UK food policy and corporate political strategy in the regulation of ultra-processed food. We adapt the concept of venue shopping, introducing the idea of venue hopping, which captures how actors advance agendas in multiple spaces and at multiple political levels. The analysis traces negotiations across two food policy partnerships, showing how industry actors operated in and between venues, playing one setting off against the other.