The Institutional Construction of a Policy Field: A Discursive Institutional Perspective on Change within the Common Agricultural Policy

This paper explores the dynamics giving momentum to the institutional construction of a policy field. This objective is pursued through the study of a case: the articulation and institutionalization of a policy field concerned with organic farming within the auspices of the common agricultural policy (CAP) of the European Union (EU) from 1980 to 2003. Applying a discursive institutional analytical framework focusing on the dynamics of institutional change it is concluded that – when it comes to the study of ideas – perhaps: (1) the CAP is not
as sectorized a policy field as it is commonly considered to be, and (2) the European
Parliament also has a role to play as an agent of change within the CAP.