Food Security and Food Sovereignty in Iraq

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of war and sanctions on food security in Iraq from 1990 to 2006. Iraq provides an important example of a country that went through an almost complete “exclusion” from the global economy under sanctions (in 1990–2003) and is now undergoing coercive “integration” into the global economy by force, a process that began with the US-led invasion in 2003. It is argued here that both war and sanctions have negative impacts on food security and have contributed to a dramatic decline in the nutritional and health status of vulnerable segments of the Iraqi population. While sanctions (exclusion) were intended to marginalize the Iraqi regime and weaken its political support, they instead increased civilians' dependence on the state and impeded recovery from the 1990–91 Gulf War. The 2003 invasion (coercive inclusion) also worsened living conditions. This paper demonstrates that the total collapse of a state can create major political turmoil and lead to increasing violence, in turn triggering a decline in food security and allowing major changes in food sovereignty that may continue to shape Iraq for years to come.