Understanding the common agricultural policy

The majority of recent publications on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union address current issues and specific applications. There is little available which attempts to increase understanding of the nature of existing policies, their development, intentions, problems and successes. The aim of this book is to improve knowledge and understanding of the ‘policy process’ and its application to the CAP, focussing on the principles of policy analysis. For while the details of agricultural and environmental policies evolve, the principles upon which they are based endure. The author uses economics as a basis for his exploration, as fairly simple economics holds the key to understanding many of the fundamental pressures to which agriculture and rural areas are subject. He explains the importance of the political and administrative context in which the process occurs, acknowledging the influence of environmental and sociological concerns.