The Role of Party Politics in Making and Breaking Iron Triangles: Lessons from French and German Government Positions on Reforming the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy

Agricultural policy is often used as one of the prime examples for regulatory capture. Iron triangles between farmers’ organisations, parliamentary committees and agricultural ministries are said to ensure that governments pursue policies that serve the interests of farmers’ organisations. This paper argues that this traditional view has overlooked the crucial role of party politics. It shows that a large part of interest group influence is due to political ties between farmers’ organisations and certain political parties. If key political positions in government are held by politicians from “friendly” parties, interest group influence is high. If changes of government, however, bring to power political parties that do not hold close ties to major farmers’ organisations, interest group influence significantly diminishes. To illustrate this argument, the paper presents evidence from a qualitative study on the changing positions of successive French and German governments on reforming the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, 1990-2009.