Weaknesses of Entitlement Theory

Workshop 8 – FAMINE

Essay Question :

To what extent has Entitlement Theory become a complete and widely accepted view about the reasons for the persistence of famine? (600 words)

Reading :

See lecture 8 slides

Devereux S Theories of famine http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~dludden/FamineMortality.pdfhttp://www.sas.upenn.edu/~dludden/FamineMortality.pdf

FAO (2011) The State of Food Insecurity in the World (available at

http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/i2330e/i2381e00.pdfhttp://www.fao.org/docrep/014/i2330e/i2381e00.pdf)

UK Government Office for Science (2011) The Future for Food and Farming. See especially Section 6 Ending Hunger (p:115) http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/foresight/docs/food-and-farming/11-546-future-of-food-and-farming-report.pdfhttp://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/foresight/docs/food-and-farming/11-546-future-of-food-and-farming-report.pdf

What does the lecturer expect from the student ? :

Introduction: What are you going to argue and conclude?

What is food insecurity?

Why do neo-calssical writers see markets as the primary level of analysis and how in this view can food insecurity occur?

How successfully did structuralist views as embodied in Entitlement Theory challenge the orthodox approaches to food insecurity. What is this theory and what are its implications in terms of food policy?

What are the weaknesses of Entitlement Theory?

In your view what are the main reasons for food insecurity and which perspective has the most explanatory value and what are the main policies that will help to reduce food insecurity?

The marking scheme for the exam essays will be as follows:

Is there a clear structure to each essay with an introduction that sets out what the essay going to argue and conclude

Has the question been answered?

Is there a clear focus to the answer?

Have the full range of the relevant underlying perspectives been applied to the question?

How effectively have the relevant theories/concepts been explained?