num_pages: 264
description: The world almost conquered famine. Until the 1980s this scourge killed ten million people every decade but by early 2000s mass starvation had all but disappeared. Today famines are resurgent driven by war blockade hostility to humanitarian principles and a volatile global economy. In Mass Starvation  world-renowned expert on humanitarian crisis and response Alex de Waal provides an authoritative history of modern their causes dimensions and why they ended. He analyses starvation as a crime and breaks new ground in examining forced starvation as an instrument of genocide and war. Refuting the enduring but erroneous view that attributes famine to overpopulation and natural disaster he shows how political decision or political failing is an essential element in every famine while the spread of democracy and human rights and the ending of wars were major factors in the near-ending of this devastating phenomenon. Hard-hitting and deeply informed Mass Starvation explains why man-made famine and the political decisions that could end it for good must once again become a top priority for the international community.
language: English
title: Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine
publisher: Polity