Understanding Public Policy Through the Lens of Political Regimes: The Case of Episodic Change in Agriculture Policy in Burkina Faso (1983–2022)

This article addresses episodic change in agriculture policy in Burkina Faso over time. It aims to explain radical changes to this policy under the presidencies of T. Sankara (1983–1987) and B. Compaoré (1987–2014), as well as incremental changes to it under the administrations of M. Kafando (2014–2015) and R. Kaboré (2015–2022). The data come from a review of the literature on public policy and political regimes in Burkina Faso; grey literature; the texts of laws and press articles; and around thirty semi-structured interviews performed between September 2021 and September 2023 in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso. Using the political regimes’ approach as a starting point, the article supports the argument that a regime's authoritarian nature, reflected in the state's failure to adapt to environmental pressures and in the society's weak policy capacity, plays a decisive role in radical policy change. By contrast, a regime's democratic nature, reflected in the state's efforts to adapt to environmental pressures and by the society's significant policy capacity, explains incremental change in the policy.