The role of the producer boards in the New Zealand - EC negotiations, from 1970-1982

Abstract

This thesis on the role of the producer boards in the New Zealand - EC negotiations examines the interaction of the non-governmental interest group organization in the government policy process and the international negotiation process. The New Zealand Dairy Board and the New Zealand Meat Producers Board have an important role in undertaking New Zealand's overseas trade commitments, in an area that sees not only economic but overt political interaction between countries. The statutory responsibilities of the producer boards suggest that an important relationship exists between such organizations and the state. Our expectations in this regard are that the producer boards would have had a noticeable input into the policy process vis-a-vis the New Zealand government and would certainly have been involved in pressing New Zealand's case for trade access to the United Kingdom and the EC. In examining the validity of these expectations, the thesis discusses the statutory nature of the producer boards, their relation­ ship to the interest group system, and the various means by which such groups can be examined. It assesses both the domestic policy making role and the international negotiating role of the producer boards by examining their historical connection to trade policy negotiation with Britain in agricultural products, and by examining specific policy issues that arose in the course of New Zealand's quest for continued trade access to the EC. In conclusion, they provide a very good example of the 'political 1 role of the international trading organization in both policy discussion and international trade negotiations. One sees the extensive use of traditional pluralist forms of government - interest group interaction, namely formal and informal networks. They function as an international trade pressure group through the use of political lobbying, public relations campaigns and international trade cooperation.