
Contemporary Famine Analysis
Olivier Rubin(Author)
Springer (Publisher)
Published on 18. December 2015
Book
Paperback/Softback
IX, 99 pages
978-3-319-27304-4 (ISBN)
Description
This Brief provides some answers as to why famines continue to torment humankind here in the 21st century despite all our progress in food production, logistics, information dissemination and relief work. Contemporary famines are inherently political, and so the interesting question is not how famines can be prevented, but why they are allowed to develop in the first place; only by understanding the latter, is there hope to eradicate major famines.
The Brief assesses the various analytical approaches to the understanding of famine, from the classical approaches inspired by Thomas Malthus to the newer economic approaches based on Amartya Sen. While all approaches contribute with important insights on famine dynamics, they also struggle to capture the political dimension of contemporary famines. The Brief develops a political approach capable of addressing this important but messy political dimension of contemporary famines. The approach builds on principles of humanitarian accountability (the moral responsibility to alleviate suffering from famine) as well as political accountability (the interests and power relations involved in famine outcomes).
The Brief assesses the various analytical approaches to the understanding of famine, from the classical approaches inspired by Thomas Malthus to the newer economic approaches based on Amartya Sen. While all approaches contribute with important insights on famine dynamics, they also struggle to capture the political dimension of contemporary famines. The Brief develops a political approach capable of addressing this important but messy political dimension of contemporary famines. The approach builds on principles of humanitarian accountability (the moral responsibility to alleviate suffering from famine) as well as political accountability (the interests and power relations involved in famine outcomes).
More details
Series
Edition
1st ed. 2016
Language
English
Place of publication
Cham
Switzerland
Publishing group
Springer International Publishing
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Research
Illustrations
IX, 99 p.
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 7 mm
Weight
184 gr
ISBN-13
978-3-319-27304-4 (9783319273044)
DOI
10.1007/978-3-319-27306-8
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Person
Olivier RubinAssociate Professor of Disasters and Global Politics Department of Society and Globalisation Roskilde UniversityDenmark
Content
Preface.- Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Understanding Famine.- Chapter 3. Classical Famine Approaches.- Chapter 4. The Entitlement Approach.- Chapter 5. The Political System.- Chapter 6. The Political Accountability Approach.