ABSTRACT
The exploitation of small coffee-producing nations by dominant alliances is achieved partly through the formal mechanisms of the International Coffee Agreement (ICA), such as the quota system, and also through what could be called informal mechanisms. The state in small producing countries plays a crucially important role in the operation of the ICA and therefore in the maintenance of dominant bilateral alliances over the flow of world coffee. The main cost to small producers of international regulation is encapsulated in the figures which show that the Agreement largely worked to freeze the distribution of market shares as they existed between 12-20 years ago. The economic costs experienced by small producers include the fact that under the workings of the Agreement the cost of any significant global readjustment which has been required has been borne by the producing countries.
