LIST OF PANELS

Recent changes in food and agriculture policy in Western democracies call for a re-evaluation of established findings and the application of new concepts in policy analysis. Traditionally this policy field has been a prime example of compartmentalised policy-making: an institutionally insulated policy field with a closed policy community, stabilised by considerable benefits to the insiders, surrounded by high entry barriers in terms of arcane technical regulations and diffuse costs to taxpayers, consumers and the environment. Nevertheless, the policy agenda in the food and agricultural sector has been considerably broadened with agri-food policy issues now interlinking with other policy domains (food safety, food security, bio-technology and patents, energy supplies, environmental protection, development aid, trade, climate change etc.). New ideas and values which sometimes conflict, or which are not always easily reconcilable, with those previously guiding agricultural policy have entered the broader agricultural and food policy domain. In contrast to traditional farm income support, where policy-making was controlled by a single or a well-integrated set of domestic complementary institutions, the new policy issues are dealt with in a more fluid, emerging or ad hoc institutional context in which national, regional and global institutions interact. This development has led to a need for more coordination and has forced policy-makers to engage in inter-institutional policy making which refers to a process of coordinating policies hosted in different policy sectors. This type of policy process has ramifications for interest groups and government agencies in other policy arenas, and so they too become involved in the development of the new agri-food policies. The panel invites papers which explore the conceptual frameworks needed to analyse inter-institutional policy-making and governance in the agri-food sector or  undertake empirical analysis to provide insights into the new policy situation, thereby contributing to broader discussions on food governance and wider debates on policy.

Recent changes in food and agriculture policy in Western democracies call for a re-evaluation of established findings and the application of new concepts in policy analysis. Traditionally this policy field has been a prime example of compartmentalised policy-making: an institutionally insulated policy field with a closed policy community, stabilised by considerable benefits to the insiders, surrounded by high entry barriers in terms of arcane technical regulations and diffuse costs to taxpayers, consumers and the environment. Nevertheless, the policy agenda in the food and agricultural sector has been considerably broadened with agri-food policy issues now interlinking with other policy domains (food safety, food security, bio-technology and patents, energy supplies, environmental protection, development aid, trade, climate change etc.). New ideas and values which sometimes conflict, or which are not always easily reconcilable, with those previously guiding agricultural policy have entered the broader agricultural and food policy domain. In contrast to traditional farm income support, where policy-making was controlled by a single or a well-integrated set of domestic complementary institutions, the new policy issues are dealt with in a more fluid, emerging or ad hoc institutional context in which national, regional and global institutions interact. This development has led to a need for more coordination and has forced policy-makers to engage in inter-institutional policy making which refers to a process of coordinating policies hosted in different policy sectors. This type of policy process has ramifications for interest groups and government agencies in other policy arenas, and so they too become involved in the development of the new agri-food policies. The panel invites papers which explore the conceptual frameworks needed to analyse inter-institutional policy-making and governance in the agri-food sector or  undertake empirical analysis to provide insights into the new policy situation, thereby contributing to broader discussions on food governance and wider debates on policy. Scientific relevance Past studies of agricultural policy-making have contributed to theoretical developments in the policy and political sciences within a number of fields, including: interest groups, policy networks, and ideas in public policy. Indeed, some of the classic studies on these concepts were grounded in agricultural policy, and often examples were drawn from the agricultural sector to illustrate theoretical points. What made the agricultural policy sector attractive to scholars engaged in the theoretical development of policy studies was the compartmentalised policy-making process, well-organised and well-resourced farm groups, substantial government intervention in the market, and the potential for a significant redistribution of income and wealth between economic actors. Studies of the new policy and politics and the inter-institutional policy making in the agricultural policy sector provide an opportunity to revisit the validity of well-established concepts in policy analysis and to stimulate novel approaches, thereby contributing to theoretical developments in public policy analysis more broadly.