Institutional fragmentation and policy reform: Pesticide regulation in Israel's agricultural sector

Organophosphates and carbamates are widely used yet highly hazardous agricultural pesticides. This study examines the evolution of Israel's agricultural pesticide regulation between 2004 and 2024, focusing on the role of institutional fragmentation in regulatory reform. Using process tracing, document analysis, and expert interviews, the analysis identifies a pattern of incremental and reactive change following oversight reports and poisoning incidents. Regulatory outcomes were shaped by overlapping mandates, sequential decision procedures, fragmented authority, and limited evaluation and surveillance capacity. While European Union standards influenced some technical reforms, broader structural constraints limited coherent policy alignment and implementation. The findings suggest that institutional fragmentation functioned as an important structuring condition that helped bias policy responses toward incremental adjustment even under conditions commonly associated with transformative change. The study contributes to debates on punctuated equilibrium, incrementalism, and regulatory governance in institutionally fragmented systems.