Towards Closer Economic Partnership? - a Comparison of Neoliberal Restructuring in the Dairy Complexes of Chile and New Zealand

Abstract

This thesis employs an incorporated comparative approach in order to investigate convergent paths of politico-economic development in Chile and New Zealand in the context of a proposed Closer Economic Partnership (CEP) agreement. In an effort to identify likely outcomes of such an agreement, the thesis examines the case of the dairy sector. In comparing the dairy complexes of New Zealand and Chile in historical and contemporary contexts, the thesis finds that substantial differences between the two complexes make them relatively incompatible in the context of a CEP. Ongoing liberalisation in the sector, and a bilateral CEP, are likely to have unevenly distributed outcomes both between New Zealand and Chile and within the dairy sectors in each country. In particular, the Chilean dairy sector is characterised by low state involvement and conflict between transnational companies and small-scale farmers. A CEP with New Zealand will reinforce this uneven relationship between global capital and local enterprise. Further, the structures of the dairy complexes of New Zealand and Chile vary to the extent that the potential benefits of a CEP are likely to accrue disproportionately to New Zealand farmers. The thesis recommends that further localised and sectoral research is required, and must be integrated into policy advocacy if New Zealand trade policy is to have equitable outcomes both within New Zealand, and beyond national borders.