Conflict, Food Insecurity and Globalization

Abstract

In this article, we examine the links among food insecurity, globalization and conflict. We summarize and critically evaluate existing studies on conflict as a cause of food insecurity; food insecurity as a cause of conflict; and the relationship between conflict and globalization. Next, we analyze country-level, historical contexts that implicate export crops, e.g. coffee and cotton, in triggering and perpetuating conflict. These cases suggest that it is not export cropping per se, but production and trade structures, and food and financial policy contexts that determine peaceful or belligerent outcomes. Export cropping appears to contribute to conflict when prices fluctuate, destabilizing household and national incomes, and when revenues fund hostilities. Furthermore, in these scenarios, governments have not focused on reducing hunger and poverty or promoting equity. We conclude by considering how globalization, more broadly conceived to include human-rights norms, might contribute to peace and food security.