Post-exceptionalism in food and agriculture policy: from national compartment to globalised network politics?

Traditionally food and agricultural policy in liberal democracies has been considered a prime example of compartmentalised policy making: an institutionally insulated policy field with a closed policy community and a sector-specific ideology. This tended to view farming as an exceptional industry due to unpredictable weather and market conditions, stabilised by considerable benefits to the insiders. The departure from the compartmentalised, exclusive and farm-centred policies and politics of the 20th century and a move towards a more open, contested and networked politics of food and agriculture challenges existing notions of the nature of food and agricultural policy making. We propose and develop the concept of post-exceptionalism to denote and explain the recent changes in the nature of policy making in the sector. The concept of post-exceptionalism will be developed to reflect the more complex and fluid nature of the policy field and at the same time highlight the continuing impact of well-entrenched farm policy institutions which continue to exist and control core agri-food policies and influence new policy concerns affecting the food and agricultural sector.