ECPR

Install the app

Install this application on your home screen for quick and easy access when you’re on the go.

Just tap Share then “Add to Home Screen”

Is the CAP still Compartmentalised? An Examination of the 2013 CAP Reform Under the Co-Decision Process

Alan Greer
University of the West of England
Alan Greer
University of the West of England

Abstract

A central claim about agricultural policy making is that it has been insulated from external pressures (‘compartmentalised)’ and from the influences of other policy concerns. This ‘compartmentalisation’ was embodied in a policy system that had its own actors and distinctive institutional structures, and also was reflected in the CAP. A central question in relation to the 2013 CAP reform is whether the inclusion of the European Parliament (EP) under the co-decision mechanism for the first time facilitated the inclusion of non-farming interests or reinforced compartmentalism, buttressing a ‘traditional’ conception of the CAP centred on agriculture and food production. The analysis focuses on the outcomes in relation to ‘greening’, market support, liberalisation, and de-coupling. From the perspective of the EP, key questions are whether non-agricultural interests were marginalised in terms of both discursive debates and policy action, and whether productionist discourses dominated other perspectives around the environment and sustainable food production?