ABSTRACT
The role of institutions in agricultural policy refers to the way agricultural policy, or any economic policy for that matter, depends on the particular institutional background prevailing in a particular country. Thus, within coun tries, the same institutional background applies across different economic policies while, between countries, the institutional background differs and is likely to lead to different policy frameworks and different policy delivery systems for dealing with the same problem. This is apparent in the interna tional aid arena (Johnson, 1999) and in regional groupings of independent countries like the EU with overriding needs for policy coordination (Williams, 1997).
