Systems, solidarity and fair trade

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/jfairtrade.3.2.0001
• Published date: 30 March 2022
• Date: 30 March 2022
• Pages: 1-15
• Author: Tony Brauer,María Angela Zamora Chaves,Mike King
• Subject Matter: environment,equity,fair trade,participation,solidarity,systems modelling techniques,systems thinking,well-being

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Systems, solidarity and fair trade

Tony Brauer, Maria Angela Zamora Chaves and Mike King

Tony Brauer has worked in the not-for-profit and education sectors in the UK and Africa most of his life.

His postgraduate degrees are in systems, philosophy, global development, adult education and business,

and his doctoral thesis was on ‘The Equitable Construction of Social Institutions’.

María Angela Zamora Chaves is Sustainability Manager of CoopeVictoria RL, a cooperative of small

Fair Trade farmers in Grecia, Costa Rica. Maria Angela’s career has involved many development and

sustainability projects. She teaches business studies and social economics at the University of Costa Rica.

Mike King attained a 2:1 BA(Hons) Regional Development Studies degree in 1983. As a professional

academic librarian, he taught information literacy to social workers and nurses for 28 years, gaining a

PGCE in HE (2005). He has been the Chairman of the Wycombe For Fairtrade Steering Group since 2008.

Abstract

The words fair trade are simple, but the ideas behind them are complex. Systems thinking

allows an accessible, pluralistic response in which diversity is a bonus rather than a problem,

while the model developed here offers a coherent framework for some familiar ideas, and

some perhaps less so. A key distinction is made between procedural and reconstructive

fair traders. Procedural fair traders focus on making market procedures more equitable.

Reconstructive fair traders seek directly to repair social and environmental inequities arising

from market and other systemic failures. These roles are seen as complementary rather than

mutually exclusive. Procedural reform of the market rewrites the role of intermediaries in the

supply chain from profit maximisation towards facilitation. At the same time, both types of

fair trader are concerned by the market’s tendency to externalise social and environmental

costs. Both types of fair traders also recognise the importance of consumer awareness:

corporate behaviour is influenced both by the aggregate of purchasing decisions and by

reputational concerns. All of these factors can be understood in the context of an holistic

systems view of fair trade in three dimensions: the qualitative narrative, the quantifiable

evidence, and the realities of ethical pluralism. This first model is fairly abstract, although

underpinned by genuine experience. There is a further step, in which the contribution of this

generalised model to the strategies of fair-trade enterprises will be explored.

Keywords: environment; equity; fair trade; participation; solidarity; systems modelling

techniques; systems thinking; well-being

Introduction

This discussion has one principal objective: to explore how systems thinking can be used to inform the

understanding of fair trade. This seems appropriate as the perspective embraces diversity and encourages

participation, two of the key values of fair trade. (Because this accessibility is seen as ethically crucial (Dine, 2008),

Appendix 1 gives a brief illustration of how systems thinking can be introduced in non-academic environments.)

DOI:10.13169/jfairtrade.3.2.0001