The politics of food in Southern Africa:A food regime/movements framework

[摘要] English Abstract: This study seeks to uncover the prevailing food ideology of Southern Africa, by exploring SouthAfrica, Malawi, and Zimbabwe's approach to food security. The explorative discussion is aided bythree supplementary research questions: 1) how does the Southern African context influence theregion's ideologies around food?; 2) what is Southern Africa's institutional response to foodinsecurity?; and 3) how does the Southern African institutional response to food security differ fromthe actual orientation towards food and the economic model on which it is based? The theoreticalframework employed is Holt-Giménez &Shattuck's food regime/food movements framework, whichhas its foundation in Freedman and McMichael's food regime analysis.To contextualise the study, the development of the global food regime is traced as it manifested inthree historical eras: the settler-colonial regime (1870-1914); the surplus-regime (1945-1973); and thecorporate food regime. The transition between these regimes is explained by drawing on theGramsican notion of hegemony; as Britain's dominance in the global political economy decreased, theUnited States came to influence food politics, subsequently resulting in the second food regime.Amidst globalisation, which saw a decrease in the power of nation states, the food regime wasrestructured once again as neoliberalism came to shape food production and distribution. However,the 2007-2008 food price crisis served as a turning point when this dominant food ideology cameunder threat, as indicated by widespread food riots in both the developed and developing world.Consequently the need for a new food regime arose.The effects of the crisis were especially detrimental in Southern Africa which is characterised by lowlevels of food security. The socio-economic evolution of food insecurity in Southern Africa canlargely be attributed to the role the region played throughout the development of the global foodregime; each era having a lasting impact on the formation of political institutions, economicrationales, and social configurations in the region. As the marginalised position of Southern Africawithin the global food regime became more apparent, and amidst the backdrop of the United Nations'Millennium Development Goals, attempts to address food security manifested in an array of foodsecurity frameworks. South Africa, Malawi, and Zimbabwe (the three dominant agricultural countriesin Southern Africa) each adopted a different official approach to food security, and subsequently thesecountries offer great insights into both the challenges in the region, and more importantly, into howthe state, private sector and international relations intersect to produce distinct food securityideologies.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University