Agricultural policy. Vol 1: Agricultural policy in Western Europe. Vol 2: Agricultural policy in global perspective

Book abstract:

Agricultural politics and policy retain a central place in the politics of advanced industrial societies. Governments in most countries continue to subsidise agricultural production and regulate markets for farm commodities. The growth of concern about the environmental impact of agriculture has added a new dimension to the sector's politics. Part of The International Library of Comparative Public Policy, these two volumes bring together key articles written by agricultural economists, rural sociologists and political scientists on these important issues.

Volume I, Agricultural Policy in Western Europe, begins with a look at general theoretical approaches to the study of agricultural politics and policy with the remainder of the volume being devoted to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and national perspectives on agricultural reform. In particular, France, Germany, Sweden and Italy are studied. Volume II, Agricultural Policy in Global Perspective, considers trade liberalisation and its effect on the CAP and moves on to explore the different agricultural policies of Japan, New Zealand and the United States in some detail. It concludes with a section on the tensions that arise between agricultural policy and environmental policy as agriculture becomes more intensive and therefore more likely to give rise to problems of pollution.

Articles in the volume come from academic journals including Public Administration, Journal of Public Policy, Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of European Public Policy, Journal of Agricultural Economics, and the American Journal of Agricultural Economics.

Although not solely focused on European agricultural issues, the discussion of reforms and policy both in Western Europe and globally in these two volumes will be of considerable interest and value to students of European Studies and to all those interested in European agricultural policy.

Wyn P Grant is Professor of Politics at the University of Warwick. John T S Keeler is Professor of Political Science, Director of the European Union Center, University of Washington, Seattle.

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