Intervening at Arm’s Length: Discreet and Structuring State Retrenchment in Agri-Environment and Cannabis Legalization in Canada

21^st century state interventionism is characterized by ambivalence between a traditional bureaucratic style and a more passive neoliberal style. Faced with multiple crises (ecological, health, etc.), policymakers attempt to solve issues without necessarily having adequate resources to do so. In a context of reduced state involvement and spending cuts, governments may be tempted to adopt policies that are officially ambitious without the means to implement them. In this article, we investigate this lingering tension between a loss of state capacity in emerging policy fields and an ongoing expectation of responsibility towards state actors. This paper builds on comparative analysis of agri-environmental and cannabis legalization policies in Canada. We argue that, as a result of ambivalent interventionism, the state loses its role as a structuring actor in public policy. It does so through the hollowing-out of its autonomy and through growing dependence on private actors. We describe three enabling mechanisms for this outcome: 1) the formation of policy implementation ecosystems in which the state is not central; 2) the weakening of state expertise; and 3) the increasing delegation of policy monitoring and follow-up to non-state actors.