ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates the dynamics linking organizational change in France and paradigmatic shift in the European Union. The analysis proceeds at three levels in order to pin down the effects of: European-international; national-governmental, and societal dynamics. The chapter describes the tensions built into the Fédération Nationale des Syndicats d'Exploitants Agricoles's (FNSEA's) structure and the traditional recipes the union used to alleviate them. It investigates the impact of international trade negotiations and Common Agricultural Policy reforms on the FNSEA and the efforts of the latter to influence these negotiations. The chapter discusses the reorientation of the state's role in agriculture and its consequences for the FNSEA's access to public resources. The FNSEA is the child of neocorporatism at home and the developmental paradigm of agriculture pursued at the European level. Neocorporatism and the developmental paradigm provided the FNSEA with the tools and resources to grow as the most powerful and legitimate platform for the representation of farm interests.
