Abstract
Marked progress in the ability to predict famines in the Sahel and Horn of Africa since the mid 1980s has not resulted in parallel improvements in famine prevention. A certain naivety has characterised the quest, by donors and governments, for ever more sophisticated famine early warning systems (EWS). The implicit assumption has been that better and more timely information can automatically help to neutralise the conflicts of interest which surround famine relief. But information can do little to reconcile such differences and has a high political value, especially when its exploitation is tied to the allocation of scarce resources. The coincidence of war and famine in much of Africa raises the political stakes of famine early warning information and its use even higher.
This paper draws on collaborative work with Margaret Buchanan-Smith (IDS) and Celia Petty (Save the Children Fund UK). See Buchanan-Smith et al., 1992.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Buchanan-Smith, M., S. Davies and C. Petty, ‘Famine Early Warning Systems and Response: the Missing Link? Summary of Findings and Conclusions’, Paper presented at the conference ‘Predicting and Preventing Famine: an Agenda for the 1990s’, 4–6 November 1992, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton and Save the Children Fund (UK), London, mimeo.
Davies, S., M. Buchanan-Smith and R. Lambert, ‘Early Warning in the Sahel and Horn of Africa: the State of the Art. A Review of the Literature: Volume 1’, IDS Research Report, no. 20 (1990).
De Kadt, E., ‘Making Health Policy Management Intersectoral: Issues of Information Analysis and Use in Less Developed Countries’, Social Science and Medicine, vol. 29 (1989) 503–514.
De Waal, A., ‘A Reassessment of Entitlement Theory in the Light of Rural Famine in Africa’, Centro Studio Luca d’Agliano/Queen Elizabeth House Development Studies Working Paper, no. 4 (Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford, 1988).
Petty, C. and M. Buchanan-Smith, ‘Famine Early Warning Systems and Response: the Missing Link? Case Studies of Four Donor Agencies’, paper presented at the conference “Predicting and Preventing Famine: an Agenda for the 1990s”, 4–6 November 1992, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton and Save the Children Fund (UK), London, mimeo.
Sen, A.K., Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1993 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Davies, S. (1993). Famine Prediction Without Prevention: The Political Economy of Information Use. In: Morgan, R., Lorentzen, J., Leander, A., Guzzini, S. (eds) New Diplomacy in the Post-Cold War World. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22738-9_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22738-9_20
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-22740-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-22738-9
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)