Power, food (in)security and (non)state actors in Southwest Asia and North Africa: case studies on Egypt, Iran, and Palestine (Gaza)

Jennifer C. Olmsted

Chapter 6 in Food Security and Islamic Ethics, 2025, pp 136-167 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Placing the issue of food (in)security into the context of global power structures is important to understand why some communities are more vulnerable to hunger than others, as well as the roles that private and public, as well as domestic and foreign actors play in addressing food challenges. Drawing on various empirical economic trends (e.g., government spending/international aid/nutrition outcomes/trade barriers), this chapter will examine how various institutions addressing food security function and interact in different communities in Southwest Asia and North Africa. Case studies focusing on Egypt, Iran, and Palestine provide further insights into these questions, with an emphasis on the roles of local and foreign governments, intergovernmental entities such as the UN, as well as religiously motivated non-state actors. I argue that while on the margin, religious non-state actors can impact food security, and power imbalances lead to foreign governments and UN entities having considerably more influence over how food security plays out in the region. Even UN entities, though, are limited in the context of extremely powerful states. The 2024 famine in Gaza is a particularly tragic example of this.

Keywords: Food security; Food policies; Egypt; Iran; Gaza; World Bank; IMF; SWANA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035333578
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