ABSTRACT
Popular paradigms and dominant theories of famine both overlook the extent to which political or military decision has been a major factor in all modern famines. An empirical investigation reveals that since 1870 more than 100 million people worldwide have died in 58 ‘great’ famines – those that killed 100,000 people or more. Famine deaths have massively declined in the last 40 years, and the historical geographical loci of famine in Asia and Eastern Europe has shifted to Africa and (recently) the Middle East. About 75 per cent of famine deaths occurred in famines inflicted by totalitarian governments, war or genocidal campaigns The chapter focuses on four difficulties that arise with defining, diagnosing and naming famines. First, the nature of famine has changed over time and varies across different places. Second, most definitions contain implicit causal inferences, often implying natural disaster or policy failure. Third: definitions commonly marginalize political factors or exclude them altogether. Last, the widely adopted Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) scale is an effective policy tool, but generates new political dynamics over how and where ‘famine’ is to be declared.
