Food governance in Norway: Coordinating different institutional logics in agriculture and seafood

New regional trade agreements, like the TPP and the TTIP complicate food governance for both member and non-member states. The WTO is still the most important institution for trade rules, but the perceived lack of willingness among its member states to reach an agreement in the Doha Round undermines the WTOs ability to fulfil its role as rule-maker. The new global order is a challenge for developed countries that need to defend conflicting interest in the constantly changing landscape of food trade. Norway, where an increasingly globalised seafood industry is pushing its offensive interests in competition with defensive agricultural interests in trade policy making, is one example of how this new global order influences the traditional balance of power in domestic food policy. Thus, trade policy making is an area where new challenges in food governance meet the established institutional order of the Norwegian government. This paper asks how the traditional institutional logic of each Ministry responds to this; does the new idea about the benefits of trade gain the upper hand, or does traditional agricultural exceptionalism prevail? Is trade policy adjusted to the changing power balance between the seafood industry and agriculture? In addition, is it possible to tie up the different institutional logics that traditionally have characterised Norwegian food governance?