Agricultural policy reform: Politics and process in the EU and US in the 1990s

Book abstract:

The agricultural sector in industrial countries since the Second World War has generally been a story of protectionism, dependency on government support, and very slow market reform and liberalisation. This book analyses the relationship between United States (US) and European Union (EU) agricultural policy reform, covering its role in both the last ten years and its future, along with acknowledging major changes like the increasing importance of agriculture in the context of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Combining economic analysis and political science, it attempts to provide a way through the complex issues of domestic and international reform at the root of the political processes in both countries.

Being both detailed and broad in scope, the book contains discussions of a range of issues, problems and topics. After the introductory material in chapter one, which offers a broader overview of the reform process and its themes in the EU and US, as well as work on the analytical perspective of the book itself, chapter two turns to the analytical framework for farm policy reform, examining crucial areas like the national policy decision making structure. Chapter three addresses the so called 'paradigm shifts' in agricultural policy over the years, and chapter four considers how and why reform was blocked in the 'Uruguay Round' of negotiations between 1986 and 1990. In chapter five there is work on the 1990 US farm bill, chapter six looks at the 1992 Macsharry Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP); chapter seven deals with the Dunkel draft, the Blair House Accord and the WTO Agreement; chapter eight studies the FAIR Act of 1996; chapter nine assesses the potential of new reforms for the CAP as laid out in the Agenda 2000, and chapter ten investigates the 2000 round of agricultural negotiations. Chapter eleven compares and contrasts the status of reform in the EU and US, and chapter twelve closes the book by looking at the future prospects for reform in both countries.