ABSTRACT
Four mass mortality famines have occurred in the twenty-first century to date, all in Africa – in Ethiopia, Malawi, Niger and Somalia. This chapter identifies three sets of institutional actors — states, markets and civil society — as central in either causing or failing to prevent a natural disaster such as a climate shock from developing into a mass mortality famine. It is structured chronologically, around an analysis of each of the four twenty-first--century famines in turn. The chapter focuses on the proximate causes of these famines; each is first situated in its historical context, including the colonial legacy that, to varying degrees, reproduced vulnerability to food insecurity that has persisted. Popular perception attributes vulnerability to famine in Ethiopia to its harsh geography, high dependence on rain-fed agriculture and low and erratic rainfall. The chapter concludes by discussing common features of the four famines, and advocating for punitive accountability mechanisms as a way of strengthening resilience against future famine threats.
