Food Security and Sociopolitical Stability

Edited by Christopher B. Barrett

Analyses how the global food system is likely to affect global sociopolitical stability over the coming decade
Contributions from leading global experts
Each chapter presents a new discussion of its topical area

Food Security and Sociopolitical Stability

Edited by Christopher B. Barrett

Description

Global food price spikes in 2008 and again in 2011 coincided with a surge of political unrest in low- and middle-income countries. Angry consumers took to the streets in scores of nations. In some places, food riots turned violent, pressuring governments and in a few cases contributed to their overthrow. Foreign investors sparked a new global land rush, adding a different set of pressures. With scientists cautioning that the world has entered a new era of steadily rising food prices, perhaps aggravated by climate change, the specter of widespread food insecurity and sociopolitical instability weighs on policymakers worldwide. In the past few years, governments and philanthropic foundations began redoubling efforts to resuscitate agricultural research and technology transfer, as well as to accelerate the modernization of food value chains to deliver high quality food inexpensively, faster, and in greater volumes to urban consumers. But will these efforts suffice? This volume explores the complex relationship between food security and sociopolitical stability up to roughly 2025. Organized around a series of original essays by leading global technical experts, a key message of this volume is that actions taken in an effort to address food security stressors may have consequences for food security, stability, or both that ultimately matter far more than the direct impacts of biophysical drivers such as climate or land or water scarcity. The means by which governments, firms, and private philanthropies tackle the food security challenge of the coming decade will fundamentally shape the relationship between food security and sociopolitical stability.

Food Security and Sociopolitical Stability

Edited by Christopher B. Barrett

1:Food or Consequences: Food Security and Its Implications for Global Sociopolitical Stability, Christopher B. Barrett
2:The Future of the Global Food Economy, Mark W. Rosegrant, Simla Tokgoz, and Prapti Bhandary
3:What Do We Know about the Climate of the Next Decade?, Mark A. Cane and Dong Eun Lee
4:The Global Land Rush, Klaus Deininger
5:Global Freshwater and Food Security in the Face of Potential Adversity, Upmanu Lall
6:Managing Marine Resources for Food and Human Security, Timothy R. McClanahan, Eddie H. Allison, and Joshua E. Cinner
7:Crop Technologies for the Coming Decade, Susan McCouch and Samuel Crowell
8:Livestock Futures to 2020, John McDermott, Dolapo Enahoro, and Mario Herrero
9:Labor Migration and Food Security in a Changing Climate, Robert McLeman
10:Trade Policies and Global Food Security, Kym Anderson
11:Food Security and Sociopolitical Stability: A Humanitarian Perspective, Daniel Maxwell
12:Moral Economies of Food Security and Protest in Latin America, Wendy Wolford and Ryan Nehring
13:Food Security and Sociopolitical Stability in Sub-Saharan Africa, Christopher B. Barrett and Joanna B. Upton
14:Lessons from the Arab Spring: Food Security and Stability in the Middle East and North Africa, Travis J. Lybbert and Heather R. Morgan
15:Food Security and Sociopolitical Stability in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Johan Swinnen and Kristine Van Herck
16:Food Security and Sociopolitical Stability in South Asia, Arun Agrawal
17:When China Runs Out of Farmers, Luc Christiaensen
18:Food Security and Sociopolitical Stability in East and Southeast Asia, C. Peter Timmer

Food Security and Sociopolitical Stability

Edited by Christopher B. Barrett

Author Information

Edited by Christopher B. Barrett, Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management and International Professor of Agriculture, Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, and Professor, Department of Economics, Cornell University

Chris Barrett is the Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management and International Professor of Agriculture in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management as well as Professor in the Department of Economics at Cornell University where he also serves as the Director of the Cornell Institute for International Food, Agriculture and Development's initiative on Stimulating Agricultural and Rural Transformation. He holds degrees from Princeton (A.B., History, 1984), Oxford (M.S., Development Economics, 1985) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (dual Ph.D., Economics and Agricultural Economics, 1994). He has published several books and more than 250 journal articles or book chapters. He served as editor of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics 2003-2008, and is an associate editor or editorial board member of the African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics and the Egerton (Kenya) Journal of Humanities.

Contributors:

Arun Agrawal, University of Michigan
Eddie H. Allison, University of East Anglia
Kym Anderson, University of Adelaide, Australian National University, and Center for Economic Policy Research
Christopher B. Barrett, Cornell University
Prapti Bhandary, International Food Policy Research Institute
Mark A. Cane, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University
Luc Christiaensen, World Bank
Joshua E. Cinner, James Cook University
Samuel Crowell, Cornell University
Klaus Deininger, World Bank
Dolapo Enahoro, International Livestock Research Institute
Mario Herrero, International Livestock Research Institute
Upmanu Lall, Columbia University
Dong Eun Lee, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University
Travis J. Lybbert, University of California, Davis
Timothy R. McClanahan, Wildlife Conservation Society
Susan McCouch, Cornell University
John McDermott, International Food Policy Research Institute
Robert McLeman, Wilfrid Laurier University
Daniel Maxwell, Feinstein International Center, Tufts University
Heather R. Morgan, American University of Cairo
Ryan Nehring, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth
Mark W. Rosegrant, International Food Policy Research Institute
Johan Swinnen, LICOS Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, University of Leuven
C. Peter Timmer, Harvard University and Australian National University
Simla Tokgoz, International Food Policy Research Institute
Joanna B. Upton, Cornell University
Kristine Van Herck, LICOS Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, University of Leuven
Wendy Wolford, Cornell University

Food Security and Sociopolitical Stability

Edited by Christopher B. Barrett

Reviews and Awards

Rising incomes and growing populations mean more mouths to feed with more and better food. This book warns the world that this rising demand for food is not being met with rising supply, and that young, hungry poor people will threaten global peace and prosperity. This is no alarmist tract, however, but a well-researched, considered, and balanced collection of essays, with an emphasis on ways that domestic and global policy can minimize risk. An important read for all in the food policy and international security communities. - Chris Blattman, Columbia University

Food insecurity and hunger lead to lower productivity, poor heath and shortened life span of individuals. Food shortage and increased food prices can also lead to large disruptions and conflict of societies. This volume edited by Barrett and contributed to by some of the most authoritative scholars in the areas of food policy analyzes the relationship between food security and sociopolitical stability and re-sensitizes the important issue of feeding the world sustainably and stably in the future in terms of both natural environment and human society. The book is an excellent reference for scholars, students, policymakers and analysts, and development practitioners working on agriculture, food and international development. - Shenggen Fan, Director General, International Food Policy Research Institute

This book is a high-quality and accessible contribution to a pressing policy issue: how to increase food production in a way that meets demand, reduces hunger, and prevents the worst kinds of sociopolitical instability. Food production strategies that are insensitive to food price volatility, to resource scarcity and environmental externalities, and to the propensity for conflict are doomed to fail. Those who formulate agricultural and food policy need to beginnowto view all of their choices through a triple lens of hunger reduction, conflict prevention and environmental management. If they do not, the legacy of their poor choices will be long lasting and will hurt the most vulnerable and powerless. Fortunately for the policymakers and their advisers, the contributions from the authors in this excellent book will help them to make the right decisions. - Lawrence Haddad, Director, Institute of Development Studies

Finally, a volume on food security accessible to non-specialists yet authored by an A-list of international experts. There is no sensationalism here, just plenty of solid analysis, up to date information, and complete topical and regional coverage. If you are concerned about the contemporary social and political context of food security in poor countries, start by reading this book. - Robert Paarlberg, author of Food Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know

This volume is accessible to a wide range of audiences and will be of value to policy analysts, policy makers, economists, other social scientists, and those interested in the serious analysis and moral implications of both food security and socio-political stability. - M. J. Frost, Choice,