Famine Prevention Essay

704 Words2 Pages

Entitlement failures are the most common cause of famines according to Sen. Sen defines entitlement as “the commodities over which she can establish her ownership and command” (162). He says “people suffer from hunger when they cannot establish their entitlement over an adequate amount of food” (162). Sen cites three influences on entitlements that affect famines: endowment, production possibilities, and exchange conditions. Famine occurs when many people simultaneously experience declines in their entitlements that cause them to be deprived of adequate food for survival. Sen argues that it is not a lack of food supplies that leads to famines, as the Malthusian would say “too many people, too little food”, but rather the inability of a group …show more content…

Famine prevention is contingent on political arrangements for entitlement protections such as re-allocation of food or the re-creation of the minimum level of incomes and entitlements needed by those who face entitlement failures (169). Democratically elected leaders have an incentive to create political arrangements to protect entitlements because in order to be reelected and retain power, they must cater to the needs of the citizens. The characteristics of a democracy that ensure entitlement protections are the multi-party system (ensures political rivalry), freedom of press (criticisms can be levied), and free elections (accountability to the people). very good Failure to prevent a famine will lead to significant political consequences for leaders who have to win elections and face public criticism. Therefore, they have an incentive to create social safety nets and programs to prevent a sudden loss of entitlement that lead to …show more content…

When people experience malnutrition over a long period of time, they adapt to their conditions in order to survive but as a consequence lose some of their political will to change such conditions. The media is also much less likely to cover protracted crises such as malnutrition so the groups that experience it lose power in the public sphere, as well. Famines, on the other hand, occur with a sudden loss of entitlements. This immediately captures the attention of the media and is likely to be heavily reported on. People who experience sudden entitlement failures feel the pain of that loss acutely and suddenly and have not adapted to living without that entitlement. People facing malnutrition, on the other hand, must adapt to such long term conditions of hunger in order to survive and therefore are less likely to fight as desperately for government protections. Because malnutrition is a long term problem, people lose the political will to change the conditions that allow it to continue and the media loses interest in the issue. Sen’s argument is not weakened because the problems of famine and malnutrition are inherently different and Sen doesn’t assert that democracy solves a protracted problem of hunger. It is also important to also note that in India, widespread corruption has impacted ration shops and other government institutions to fight hunger. Corruption

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