Democracy and Famine

Description

Famine is the most extreme manifestation of the existence of poverty, inequality and political apathy. Whereas poverty, hunger and diseases are not easily eradicated in the world today, famines are often perceived to be relatively simple to avert. However, the political incentives to prevent famines are not always present. Inspired by the work of Amartya Sen, whose influential hypothesis that democratic institutions together with a free press provide effective protection from famine, Democracy and Famine is a study combining qualitative and quantitative evidence, analysing the effect of democracy on famine prevention. The book’s overall framework moves from placing political systems at the heart of famine protection to look at the political processes involved. Using a case study based approach drawing on famines from India, Malawi and Niger; Democracy and Famine will be of interest to scholars and students of democracy, comparative politics and international relations.   Cover Democracy and Famine Copyright Contents Illustrations Acknowledgements Abbreviations 1 Introduction Structure of book 2 Presentation of Sen’s theory of democracy and famine Outlining Sen’s theory of democracy and famine Earlier critiques of Sen’s democracy theory The three different democracy propositions 3 Conceptualization and operationalization of democracy Conceptualizing democracy The question of governance Conclusion Operationalization of democracy Conclusion 4 Discussion of Sen’s understanding of democracy Inferring from Sen’s writings Inferring from Sen’s empirical example, India Conclusion 5 Famines in Bangladesh, Sudan and India The concept of famine and case-study design The 1974 Bangladesh famine The Sudanese famine of 1986–89 Indian famines since independence Conclusion 6 The Malawi famine of 2002 The Malawian democracy The Malawian famine Tracing system deficiencies Conclusion 7 The Niger famine of 2005 Democracy in Niger The Niger famine Tracing system deficiencies Conclusion 8 Democracy and famine: Quantitative evidence Existing cross-country empirical evidence Cross-country empirical evidence Conclusion 9 Multiple starvation deaths in India Starvation deaths in West Bengal The political triggers Legal assembly dynamics The politicized panchayats Distrust and stigmatization The village-specific factors Conclusion 10 Discussion of other macro-level causal approaches De Waal’s anti-famine contract Dan Banik’s freedom Neumayer and Plümper’s electorate size 11 Counter-productive democratic mechanisms The validity of the three propositions The limitations of the focus on democracy and politicization Conclusion 12 Conclusion The three propositions – results Moving beyond the focus on democracy Bibliography Index