Sweetness and power, Interview data

This collection includes all bar one of the interviews conducted for this project. Those interviewed represent a cross section of leading actors in bio fuels policies in the EU (10, excluding one), US (14) and Brazil (6). <p>This research uses historical institutionalism to analyse the dynamics and drivers of recent developments in public policies targeting agricultural commodity production, where such production has competing uses as food and energy: specifically biofuels. There is a long history of public policy intervention in food production, but concerns over energy supply security and the environmental impact of energy production have seen public policies promoting ‘alternative’ energy supplies. These end-uses thus compete for inputs. Trade liberalisation has also increased the scope for these effects to be transmitted across national borders. These issues give rise to the primary research question for this project: What explains the dynamics of policy change in biofuels policies, and related agricultural commodity sectors, where there is also international trade?

The sole method of primary data collection has been semi-structured elite interviews.</p>