Long Term Goals

The long-term goals of this project:

1) To build the body of literature on the politics of agricultural policy formation by establishing and formalizing a working group of scholars dedicated to the interdisciplinary pursuit. With a “unified front” among otherwise unorganized political scientists, we will be better able to inform other disciplines of our key findings and coalesce around common recommendations for policymakers.

2) To increase the capacity of our two disciplines to offer more relevant policy recommendations for US legislators and stakeholders. These recommendations must be based in an understanding that politicians’ goals are to maximize both economic efficiency and political expediency. Thus, any recommendations we expect to be taken seriously must acknowledge the duality of these concerns. Likewise, negotiations with current and potential trading partners must be sensitive to their own political concerns—which often differ from our own. This project will shed light on the policy-making process under a multitude of political conditions and institutional arrangements. Insight into foreign political systems will assist US efforts to expand agricultural export opportunities.