• DOI:10.1080/07036330600785749
• Corpus ID: 154437960

The 2003 Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy: Against all Odds or Rational Explanations?

@article{Nedergaard2006The2R,
  title={The 2003 Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy: Against all Odds or Rational Explanations?},
  author={Peter Nedergaard},
  journal={Journal of European Integration},
  year={2006},
  volume={28},
  pages={203 - 223}
}

• P. Nedergaard
• Published 1 July 2006
• Political Science
• Journal of European Integration

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.