Running in circles? Environmental policy entrepreneurs and the resilience of agricultural exceptionalism in the post-2013 and post-2020 CAP reforms

The EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is among its most contested policies, criticised for incremental changes despite fundamental challenges. Recent scholarship suggests a partial shift in the sector's governance from agricultural exceptionalism towards post-exceptionalism – marked by the emergence of actors seeking more fundamental policy change. Yet, post-exceptionalism scholarship remains unclear regarding who these contesting actors are, and how, and with what effects they challenge exceptionalist arrangements. We conceptualise these actors as potential environmental policy entrepreneurs (EPEs) to examine their role and perceived effectiveness in the post-2013 and post-2020 CAP reforms. Based on interviews with 25 key stakeholders, we identify a growing network of EPEs, within and outside of closed policy networks. Public information and mobilisation strategies were perceived as most effective in challenging exceptionalist arrangements, while other strategies, like institutional barrier manipulation, increased over time but had limited impact. Political context played a crucial role: the global financial crisis and the war in Ukraine favoured economic and productionist ideas over environmental concerns. We reflect that while EPEs challenged the CAP’s exceptionalist governance, these arrangements remain resilient, raising critical questions about the ability to align EU agriculture with pressing sustainability challenges.