European Review of Agricultural Economics pp. 1–23 doi:10.1093/erae/jbx008 Research of European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy: disciplinary boundaries and beyond Emil Erjavec †, * and Marko Lovec ‡ † Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; ‡ Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia Received January 2017; editorial decision March 2017; final version accepted March 2017 Review coordinated by Iain Fraser Abstract Based on the philosophy of science approach and literature analysis, this contribution demonstrates that over time, the focus of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy research has shifted from market distortions to international trade and budgetary decision-making frameworks, as well as broader societal issues, such as food, environment and development. The array of disciplinary approaches has changed accordingly: from (agricultural) economics towards political and social sciences. Some key gaps in the existing research indicate the limits of overly problem-oriented and partial approaches towards science, calling for inter- and trans- disciplinary work when it comes to indivisible layers of the research object. Keywords: Common Agricultural Policy, agricultural economics, political science, social science, interdisciplinary approach JEL classification: Q18, Y80 1. Introduction: bound by disciplines? The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a crucial, as well as highly com- plex and controversial policy of the European Union (EU). Since its intro- duction in the 1962, the CAP has been in a process of periodic change. Some of the policy changes have become known as ‘reforms’, denoting paradigmatic transformation, corresponding to changes in markets, decision- making frameworks and broader societal expectations (Garzon, 2006). However, the CAP has repeatedly failed to adequately respond to challenges posed by the (changing) conditions, resulting in pressure for further reforms (Harvey, 2015). *Corresponding author: E-mail: emil.erjavec@bf.uni-lj.si © Oxford University Press and Foundation for the European Review of Agricultural Economics 2017; all rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com