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Turning towards the Market
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 May 2025
Coffee has arguably been the essential product of fair trade activism. This chapter analyzes how earlier campaigns to promote fair trade around coffee eventually evolved into the practice of certification. Certification has been the most visible and economically impactful aspect of fair trade activism. At the same time, it has been criticized for introducing a predominantly economic and non-transformative perspective into the movement. Based on a new analysis of the emergence of certification first in the Dutch organization Max Havelaar and then in the context of international cooperation of fair trade organizations, this chapter demonstrates that certification has to be regarded not just as a means to sell more products, but also as a tool to gain more political and economic leverage. The introduction of fair trade certification was part of a broader trend in which fair trade activism became more professional and engaged new stakeholders such as supermarkets.
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