Scientific discourses as arguments of authority in legal and political fields. The case of seed dematerialization and its legal regime
(2026)
Files
Dissertation_Walckiers_DIAL.pdf
Open Access - Adobe PDF
- 2.19 MB
Details
- Authors
- Supervisors
; - Abstract
- (en) This article-based thesis examines the strategic use of scientific arguments in political and legal spheres. It focuses on debates surrounding Digital Sequence Information (DSI) within the framework of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and other Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) instruments. Due to advances in sequencing technologies, genetic data are increasingly used alongside, or in place of, physical genetic resources for research and industrial purposes. This use contributes to the bypassing of existing ABS obligations, without consensus on whether such uses of DSI fall within the scope of ABS instruments. Within this hybrid context, characterized by concerns over biopiracy, gene editing, and the patenting of genetic resources, the thesis analyzes how scientific arguments are mobilized in these debates. It examines the epistocratic use of science by states in negotiations on DSI, particularly regarding the integration of DSI into ABS mechanisms and in relation to the definitions of “genetic resources” and “genetic material.” It also explores how science is used to frame the ontological questions raised by DSI, including the determination of their terminology, scope, and the types of knowledge considered legitimate, thereby contributing to epistemic injustices toward Indigenous knowledge systems. The thesis then investigates how scientific perspectives shape the interpretation of international law by analyzing the ontological assumptions underlying a conception of “modern science” presented as objective and universal. Situated at the intersection of international law, philosophy of law, philosophy of science, and posthuman approaches, this thesis examines how this “modern science,” drawing on a dualistic framework, produces normative “ontological cuts” between physical plants and their immaterial components, and between nature and culture. Finally, the thesis advances a relational and cosmopolitical approach to international law. It argues that international law should not be interpreted solely through supposedly universal, Western, and anthropocentric frameworks, but can instead be understood as a space of ontological diplomacy, open to reinterpretation in light of the ontological and epistemological claims at stake within these human–seed relationships.
- Affiliations
Citations
Walckiers, P. (2026). Scientific discourses as arguments of authority in legal and political fields. The case of seed dematerialization and its legal regime. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/275984