Stability in change in agricultural reform processes: The resilience of the Norwegian Canalization Policy

The transition from ‘agricultural exceptionalism’ to ‘post-exceptionalism’ implies both stability and change. Stability may be linked to strong actors and their interests, or it can be that existing policy is based on ideas shared by a diversity of actors with different interests and thus supported by a joint coalition. Changes can be linked to new political framework conditions, shifts in technology and markets, and to new ideas shared by a majority of core actors within the policy area. It is an observation of a mix of stability and change that constitute the point of departure for this paper. In the early 1950’s the so-called canalization policy was implemented in Norway. Originally it was established to regulate production through adjusting the relative price difference between grain and livestock production. However, it soon became an instrument for differentiation of production in different parts of the country. The economic instruments were designed to promoted grain production in the areas that had the best natural conditions for this, while milk and meat were to be produced in the rest of the country. This policy has survived numerus changes in international framework conditions, national policy goals and internal changes in the industry. We use historical institutionalism as a theoretical framework, but we also utilize ideational theory. Both perspectives provide us with frameworks for analysing institutional stability and change. We will seek to answer the following question: Is the continuous support for the canalization policy primarily an effect of balancing powerful interest or is it based on shared ideas? What can explain why particular components from the old order survive almost untouched in the new?