From protected development to market liberalism: paradigm change in agriculture

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the post-war period, most Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) states followed a developmental policy paradigm in the agricultural sector. Using protection against international competition, regulation of prices and markets, and various structural measures, governments sought to promote a more productive, efficient agriculture, all the while sparing farmers from income instability. None the less, drawing on a comparison of France, Germany and the United States, the article demonstrates that the role of the state under the developmental paradigm varied depending on the ideas guiding policy-makers. These varying state roles become evident in a comparison of agricultural structural policies between 1995 and 1985. The differences among states in the institutionalization of the developmental paradigm, in turn, leave distinctive policy repertoires in place that differ in the obstacles they place in the way of a paradigm shift toward market liberalism. With fewer such obstacles, the US is shown to have moved to a reduced state role after 1985. In contrast, the two European states have participated in the elaboration of a new differentiated policy paradigm that seeks to balance market liberalism with a commitment to state support for social cohesion.