Policy Reform and Supply Chain Governance: Insights from Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ecuador

This chapter looks at the degree of state involvement and the modes of market governance in the cocoa value chains of Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ecuador, in order to document the institutional blending of private and public economic governance. Liberalization in the cocoa sectors transformed the role of public policy but did not eradicate the public sector. The state continued to play a mediating role, which is an important lesson for contemporary sustainability initiatives in tropical commodities, which rely exclusively on private governance arrangements, such as standards. Finding ways to connect different governance structures and policy measures situated in specific historical conditions may enhance sustainability, rather than opting for either a fully privatized and deregulated sector or complete public control over the cocoa economy.