Famine Crimes - Alex de Waal: Humanitarian Agencies Enable Bad Government

De Waal begins by presenting a history of the impact of neoliberalism on African politics. He explains how neoliberal reforms encourage African states to shed their responsibility for famine prevention and welfare protection (De Waal, "Famine Crimes," 3). By prescribing privatized aid for famine crises, neoliberal advisors weaken "the forms of political accountability that underlie the prevention of famine" (4). Thus, by taking the onus away from local politics, governments are less likely to consider famine as a political issue.

Furthermore, an influx of humanitarian aid does nothing to obviate African nations' tendency to violate their citizens' rights, which is what de Waal sees as unfailingly leading to famine (9). By carrying out the functions of a state, humanitarian agencies stunt the evolution of the state to develop political contracts (11). They also make nations dependent on foreign assistance (86). By feeding bad government, agencies continue the cycle, much like the Darod militia, which was created by bad government and then created famine (166).

De Waal traces the development of Africans' ability to fight famine from the early 1900s. Colonialism,

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Approximate Word count = 1108
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page)