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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)

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 t.

Natural hazards not only have socio‐economic impacts, they also have political repercussions. This paper takes stock of the fast‐growing research linking disasters triggered by natural hazards to voting behaviour. The research is based on the central tenet of voter retrospection: voters place emphasis on past events when deciding their vote. The paper uncovers a great disparity of electoral outcomes in the wake of disasters. Some of this disparity can be explained away by authors' different methodological choices. However, the unpredictability of voting behaviour in the wake of disasters also points to the relevance of introducing an intermediate variable when explaining voter movements. This variable should capture the prevailing political discourses surrounding disasters, as these are likely to shape the dynamics of voter retrospection. The paper demonstrates the analytical relevance of such political discourses by contrasting the political dynamics in Denmark and Sweden in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami. ; Natural hazards not only have socioeconomic ramifications, they also have political repercussions. This paper takes stock of the fast‐growing area of research linking disasters triggered by natural hazards to voting behaviour. It is based on the central tenet of voter retrospection: voters place emphasis on past events when making their selection. The study uncovers a great disparity in analysis of electoral outcomes in the wake of disasters, part of which can be explained by the different methodological choices of authors. However, the unpredictability of voting behaviour in the aftermath of disasters also points to the relevance of introducing an intermediate variable when elucidating voter movements. This variable should capture the prevailing political discourses that surround disasters, as these are likely to shape the dynamics of voter retrospection. The paper demonstrates the analytical relevance of such political discourses by contrasting political dynamics in Denmark and Sweden following the Indian Ocean tsunami on 26 December 2004.

This article analyses the relationship between vulnerable households and local authorities during floods using the concept of linking social capital. The analysis combines a narrow operationalisation that measures the stock of linking social capital in vulnerable communities, with a broader operationalisation that seeks to address the nature of linking social capital. The empirical data, collected across four provinces in Central and North Vietnam, suggests that while a substantial stock of social linking capital exists in the vulnerable communities concerned, the nature of the relationship between the communities and local authorities during floods is characterised by top-down linkages and limited community autonomy. These linkages appear to be susceptible to social inertia during times of stress. They also undermine the development and reproduction of strong bonding and bridging social capital.

This article examines the local socio-political causes behind a sudden wave of starvation deaths that swept across the West Bengali village of Amlashol during the summer of 2004. Following the new paradigm of famine analysis where focus is placed on political failures, the article addresses three groups of political dynamics that together contributed to the starvation deaths: (i) political triggering mechanisms; (ii) underlying political dynamics; and (iii) village specific political dynamics. The article finds that the government's escalating conflict with the Maoists turned a situation of chronic food insecurity into an acute hunger crisis, which was not mitigated by effective public policies at the local level due to extensive political patronage and a politicisation of the bureaucracy. Amlashol suffered disproportionally from this due to the village's affiliation with a weak and politically marginalised panchayat. Within Amlashol, the casualties of starvation came primarily from one particular Scheduled tribe, the Sabars, due to issues of social stigmatisation, political exclusion and eroding livelihoods. The article provides a testament to the importance of addressing disaggregated political dynamics in contemporary starvation analysis.

International audience ; The article dismisses most of the objections previously forwarded in this journal by Khandakar Qudrat-I Elahi against Amartya Sen's framework for famine analysis: the entitlement approach. Instead, the article argues that even thirty years after the conception of the entitlement approach, it remains a potent framework for famine analysis, as illustrated by the recent 2005 famine. However, as contemporary famines are increasingly linked to factors that have hitherto received limited attention in entitlement analysis – conflicts, legal collapses and political struggles – the article calls for supplementary famine analysis on the meso and macro levels.

The article dismisses most of the objections previously forwarded in this journal by Khandakar Qudrat-I Elahi against Amartya Sen's framework for famine analysis: the entitlement approach. Instead, the article argues that even thirty years after the conception of the entitlement approach, it remains a potent framework for famine analysis, as illustrated by the recent 2005 famine. However, as contemporary famines are increasingly linked to factors that have hitherto received limited attention in entitlement analysis – conflicts, legal collapses and political struggles – the article calls for supplementary famine analysis on the meso and macro levels.