Dismantling statist East Asian agricultures? Global pressures and nationalresponses

Recent analyses of the extension of the GATT-WTO trade regime to agricultur e and other sectors emphasize the secular decline of nation-state power. Ne w forms of global regulation, it is argued, make it difficult for the state to intervene effectively to counter sectoral displacement threats. Recent agricultural adjustment problems in East Asia, where state intervention has been pronounced, cast doubt on this argument. While the type of state inte rvention has changed somewhat, both the Japanese and South Korean states re main heavily involved in agricultural restructuring, making neoliberal patt erns of reorganization an unlikely result. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. A ll rights reserved.