During the 1980s in New Zealand the fabric of state support which had gradually expanded after World War 2 was suddenly removed. Farmers' interest groups found they were unable to influence appreciably the general direction of macroeconomic policy or to contain the influence of deregulationist policies on agriculture. A political economy approach is used to conceptualise and offer preliminary theoretical suggestions about the changing interconnections between economy and state during the present restructuring crisis, especially the need to focus on the disintegration and recomposition of political constituencies and organisations when macropolicy and sectoral frameworks are dismantled. The changing strategies of farmers' interest groups and related agricultural politics amidst an unprecedented episode of state-sector restructuring in New Zealand over the decade are discussed.

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Cooperative business networking and technological learning have been treated as discrete features of successful regional economies. It is argued that both may be understood as governance solutions within the respective global commodity chains. Empirical evidence is examined of five export-oriented horticultural industries in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. Within these industries a number of instances of networking and technological learning are identified and are found to be operating in a variety of regulatory contexts. Evidence from field interviews and three case studies, in particular, reveals the governance relations in effect in these commodity chains and how these lead to solutions such as networking and technological learning. These examples are also employed to support a more refined understanding both of governance and of regulation.