Globalization and Internal Policy Dynamics in the Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy

Policy evolution can be a chain of events linked through reactions and counter-reactions. Each reform event in the sequence is facilitated by previous reform events. Though events in the sequence may seem insignificant when they happen, they may, over time, amount to substantial policy change. The analysis of the sequence of agricultural policy reforms in theEuropean Union (EU) from 1992 to 2008 demonstrates the utility of this approach to sequencing. The 1992 MacSharry reform triggered a sequence of reforms enabling EU agricultural policy makers to respond to subsequent challenges within the World Trade Organization (WTO) and over almost two decades substantially reshape the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in a manner which would have been politically unrealistic in the past. The internal dynamics of the CAP evolution made certain responses to these pressures more likely than others. By analysing internal reform dynamics within the CAP and how these intersect with development in the WTO, the chapter contributes to a more sophisticated understanding of how the CAP responds to pressures originating from farm trade negotiations within the WTO.