Matias Margulis

Postdoctoral Fellow, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne, Germany, 2012-2013

Ph.D. International Relations, McMaster University, 2012

M.A. Public Policy and Politics, University of Toronto, 2003

B.A. (Honours) Economics and Political Science, University of Toronto, 2000

A central objective of my research is to improve our knowledge of the global governance of food security. Food insecurity is not simply a ‘natural’ or ‘scientific’ phenomenon: it is primarily caused by human-made actions. As such, it is a direct by-product of historically specific forms of social, economic, and political organization. Achieving world food security has long been a major objective of international cooperation and a focus of global and regional institution building and development policy. My research examines the renewed centrality of food security in global governance and policy, especially in the context of agricultural trade liberalization, large-scale land acquisitions (A.K.A. “land grabs”), international human rights agreements and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Please see Google Scholar for a full list of publications.

Matias E. Margulis. 2023. Shadow Negotiators: How the UN Shapes the Rules of World Trade for Food Security. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Pp. 256.

Matias E. Margulis. 2023. “Backdoor Bargaining: How the EU Navigates the Food Aid Regime Complex.” Politics and Governance 11(2):29-38.

Sylvan Charlebois et al. 2022. Canada’s Food Price Report 2023 (13th edition).

Margulis, Matias, Kristen Hopewell and Edi Qereshniku. 2023. “Food, Famine & the Free Trade Fallacy: The Dangers of Market Fundamentalism in an Era of Climate Emergency.” Journal of Peasant Studies 50(1): 215-239.

Kristen Hopewell and Matias E. Margulis. 2022. “Emerging Economy Subsidies Undermining Sustainability of Global Fisheries.” Nature Food 3: 2-3.

Matias E. Margulis. 2021. “Intervention by International Organizations in Regime Complexes.” Review of International Organizations 4(16): 871-902.

Matias E. Margulis. 2019. “The World Trade Organization Between Law and Politics: Negotiating a Permanent Solution for Public Stockholding for Food Security Purposes.” Transnational Legal Theory 9(3-4): 343-360.

Matias E. Margulis. 2017. “The Forgotten History of Food Security in Multilateral Trade Negotiations.” World Trade Review 16(1): 25-57.

Distinguished Academic Award – Early in Career (2014), Confederation of University Faculty Associations of British Columbia

Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2012-2013), Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Germany

Cadieux-Léger Fellowship (2010-2011), Global Affairs Canada

Matias is Assistant Professor in the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs and Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia. His research and teaching interests are in global governance, development, human rights, international law and food policy. He has previously held academic positions at the University of Edinburgh, University of Stirling, University of Northern British Columbia and Max Plank Institute for the Study of Societies. In 2010-2011, he was the Cadieux-Léger Fellow at Global Affairs Canada.

In addition to his academic research, Matias has extensive professional experience in the field of international policymaking and is a former Canadian representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). He has also advised the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food and the Scottish Parliament and consulted for international NGOs and the Brookings Institution.