Responses to FOOD Crises and Climate Crisis in Norwegian Agriculture. Regime Flexibility and Robustness

According to theory, a policy regime might risk to undergo changes when being hit by exogenous trigger-events. Regimes with a capacity to absorb external shocks are considered robust (Hasenclever et al. 2004), and will stay stable over time (Underdal 2004). In this paper, I study how the Norwegian agricultural policy regime responded to two global shocks – the 2008 food crisis and climate change – by combining a productivist turn with climate mitigation measures in a new policy approach from 2009 onward. Unlike a traditional understanding of food production and GHG-emission reductions as conflicting goals, the new policy aimed at increasing food production while mitigating climate change at the same time, which is unique in a comparative perspective. This 'climate turn' in Norwegian agriculture was the result of a flexible regime being able to absorb two global shocks, securing its long-term stability through policy entrepreneurship.