The 2003 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy: against all odds or rational explanations?

Abstract:

This article analyses the 2003 reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy. On the basis of rational choice theory, it addresses to two basic questions: first, which processes led to the 2003 CAP reform? And second, how can the actual content of the reform - with, for example, increased bureaucratisation and more diffuse implementation - be accounted for? The article concludes that it is possible to rationally answer the two questions and that the external pressure resulting from the impending WTO negotiations represented a necessary, if insufficient, condition for reform. In order to arrive at an adequate explanation, an account of the policy entrepreneurship on the part of Commissioner Franz Fischler must also be given.