Three approaches to agricultural protectionism: security, democracy, and identity

Protectionism within an economic sector is contingent upon the interaction of variables from at least three sources: security concerns, domestic forces, and ideational social constructs. This work examines these forces as they affect agricultural protectionism. Three competing theories are operationalized and tested using OLS regression. Variables are constructed representing Realism, Liberalism, and Constructivism. Empirical analysis shows that domestic pressures most likely drive applied tariff rates for the sample of WTO states examined.