INTD 200 Chapter Notes -Nationstates, 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, Malthusianism
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5 Dec 2012
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3.8 Famine 12/5/12 1:21 AM
‘Famine’ can be defined as a widespread and protracted disruption in access
to food, which will result in acute malnutrition and mass mortality unless
alternative sources of food are available.
Historical Famine Trajectories
• Pre 20th century: triggered by natural disasters
o Vulnerable: weak markets, underdevelopment, undiversified
livelihoods, no food aid
• 19th century: reduced famine due to
o increased transportation
o integrated societies
o nation-states
• De-colonization
o India: strengthened political accountability for famine
prevention; improved food production
o Africa: “war famines”, political instability
Theories of Famine
1. Malthusianism
• Thomas Malthus
• 1790s
• Population will eventually exceed global production capability
• Famine intervenes to regulate population
2. Economics and Sen’s Entitlement Approach
• A person’s entitlement to food derives from four sources:
production, trade, labour, gifts
• Famine is determined by failures of access to food
• Poverty and market failures
3. Politics: Famine as ‘act of man’
• Famines affect people who are politically and economically
marginalized
• Famines are related to lack of democracy
o Free, vigilant press
o Free and fair elections
• ‘Anti-famine contract’
• The role of aid donors
o Food aid as a political weapon
War and ‘Complex Political Emergencies’
• Famines as a war tactic
• Can also be created as an unintended consequence of conflict
• Conflicts disrupt agricultural production
• War undermines food marketing
• Relief interventions are undermined by logistical constraints and
security risks
Future Famines
• Less widespread and less severe
• Exacerbated by:
o Flawed processes of economic liberalization and political
democratization
o Rising prevalence of HIV/AIDS
o Problematic relationships between national governments and
international donors
• Caused by failures of:
o The weather
o ‘coping strategies’
o markets
o local politics
o notional governments
o the international community
• All famines are fundamentally political
Famines and Other Crises 12/5/12 1:21 AM
Causation of Famines
• The substantive freedom of the individual and the family to
establish ownership over an adequate amount of food
o Growing it themselves
o Buying it on the market
• A person may be forced into starvation due to inability to buy food
• Even when food supply in a country falls sharply, everyone can be
saved through better distribution of food
The focus should be on economic power and freedom of individuals to buy
enough food.
Entitlement and Interdependence
• Undernourishment, starvation and famine are influenced by the
working of the entire economy and society
• Economic and social interdependences
• Food has to be earned
• “entitlement”: the commodities over which she can establish her
ownership and command
• What determines entitlement?
o Endowment: the ownership over productive resources as well
as wealth that commands a price in the market
! Labour power, land, other resources
o Production possibilities and their use: available technologies
o Exchange Conditions: the ability to sell and buy goods and
the determination of relative prices of different products
! Operation of labour markets
! Can change drastically in an economic emergency
• Distributional change
• Interdependencies must be noted because the loss of certain parts
of the flow will lead to loss in other parts of the flow
Famine Causation
• For those who do not produce food:
o Economic circumstance
o Employment
o Wage rates
o Production of other commodities
o Market prices