A CAP on ambitions: power, fragmentation, and the struggle for transformative policy in the post-2022 common agricultural policy debates

Abstract

In recent years, academics and practitioners have questioned whether the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the best instrument to deal with socialand environmental transformations. Stakeholders have faced stagnating policydebates and have seen ambitious plans being watered down. In this article, weanalyse the post-2022 CAP policy debates regarding policy configurations andcontent. It provides insights into the key policy topics discussed during thedebates, stakeholder interactions, and patterns of inclusion and exclusion. Theresults show that the agri-food policy community did not change its status quodespite efforts to include new actors and meanings. Four patterns of exclusionstand out: (1) fixed rules of interaction, (2) disqualification of actors and mean-ings, (3) ideational deadlock, and (4) restrictive language. Hence, the post-2022CAP debates did not differ much from previous debates, blocking systemicchanges.