ABSTRACT
It is often difficult to discern the boundaries between international and national decision-making; international actors often form alliances with nationally potent actors and the context of national decision-making is structured by decisions made elsewhere. However, the distinction is useful because it helps to identify the variety of agents and actors which govern access to entitlements and food. Generalisations about national policy are necessary but it is important to emphasise that circumstances in the developing world are extraordinarily varied and dynamic:
Figure 4.1 How governments interact with the food security system Source: Hubbard (1995, 10)
Historical legacies European colonisation occasioned numerous changes in the developing world which continue to shape people’s entitlements; some people benefited from these changes and others suffered a decline in their circumstances. Within colonial states, access to productive resources, land, mineral wealth, etc., were always skewed, and patterns of inequality established in the past persist. In general, a few people controlled the majority of the resources and the great majority were in control of very few resources. The case of property relations, the rules that govern ownership and access to land, is an instructive example.
