Ending Hunger Worldwide

by Kent,George

• ISBN13: 9781594518935
• ISBN10: 1594518939
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2011-05-30
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Ending Hunger Worldwidechallenges the naïve notion that everyone wants hunger to end. Hunger ensures that employers make good profits and consumers enjoy cheap goods. Most of the hungry are far away. Those who are well-off have little interest in ending hunger. Action to end it has not matched the talk about it because those who have the power to end the problem are not the ones who have the problem. The powerful care about hunger, but not enough. Hunger analysts typically focus on agriculture yields and interventions with capsules and supplements. They rarely acknowledge that hunger is a deeply social issue that is shaped by the ways in which people treat each other. The central concept that drives the book is that in strong communities, people don't go hungry. Strong communities have high levels of concern about one another's well-being. People may provide food to one another when that is necessary, but more fundamentally, they ensure that all have decent opportunities to provide for themselves. Given decent opportunities, people will not allow themselves or their families to go hungry. There is no shortage of food in the world; there is a shortage of opportunities. People who have decent opportunities either to produce food or to earn money to purchase food will manage to provide for themselves and their families. Ending Hunger Worldwideargues that if people do not care enough about other people's well-being, there is little prospect for ending hunger in the world. Strengthening communities by building care certainly would not be an easy route to ending hunger. The argument for this approach is that it is true to the realities of the hunger problem. Without adequate caring, the many things that could be done to end hunger will not get done.

Author Biography

George Kent, formerly Professor of Political Science at the University of Hawaii, is currently working on finding remedies for social problems, particularly finding ways to strengthen the weak in the face of the strong. He works on human rights, international relations, peace, development, and environmental issues, with a special focus on nutrition and children.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Nutrition Problems	p. 1
Numbers and Definitions	p. 1
Food Security versus Nutrition Security	p. 4
Other Perspectives	p. 7
Achieve Sustainability or End Hunger?	p. 9
Indifference?	p. 13
Conflicting Interests	p. 16
Invest in Ending Hunger?	p. 20
The Copenhagen Confusion	p. 22
Hunger as Structural Violence	p. 23
The Moral Dimension-Compassion	p. 24
Transcending Hunger	p. 26
Widening Gaps	p. 28
Evidence of Widening Gaps	p. 28
Explanation	p. 32
The Globalization of Widening Gaps	p. 37
Self-Reliant Communities	p. 38
Food Trade	p. 41
Concentration of Wealth and Power	p. 41
Subsidies	p. 44
Foreign Interests	p. 46
Grabbing Land and Sea	p. 48
Free Trade Agreements	p. 56
Non-Market Values	p. 58
Food Trade	p. 60
Remedies	p. 62
Rights-Based Social Systems	p. 65
The Essence of Rights Systems	p. 65
Varieties of Rights	p. 66
Rights-Based Programs in Schools	p. 67
Human Rights Principles	p. 70
The Human Right to Adequate Food	p. 74
Entitlements	p. 74
The Human Right to an Adequate Standard of Living	p. 75
Global Recognition of the Right to Food	p. 76
UN General Comment 12	p. 79
Voluntary Guidelines	p. 81
Dignity	p. 83
Global Obligations	p. 86
The Global Food System	p. 86
Global Obligations	p. 87
The Right to Food Viewed Globally	p. 89
Levels of Global Obligation	p. 90
The Need for Planning	p. 92
Nutritional Safety Nets	p. 94
Defining Nutritional Safety Nets	p. 94
Guaranteed Safety Nets	p. 97
Designing Guaranteed Nutritional Safety Nets	p. 99
Global Nutritional Safety Nets	p. 103
Cautions	p. 105
The Role of International Law	p. 107
Key Features of Safety Net Programs	p. 109
Household Food Production	p. 110
Methods of Household Food Production	p. 111
Beyond Primary Production	p. 113
Cautions	p. 114
Networking	p. 117
Community-Based Food Production	p. 118
The Role of Government	p. 119
Political Significance	p. 120
Community-Based Nutrition Security	p. 122
Localization and Its Limits	p. 122
Priority on Self-Reliance, Not Self-Sufficiency	p. 124
Food Sovereignty	p. 130
Democracy Is Not Enough	p. 133
The Need for Community	p. 134
Food/Nutrition Policy Councils	p. 142
A Forum on Nutrition Issues	p. 142
Task Forces	p. 144
Describing Food Systems	p. 147
Assessing Food Systems	p. 148
Improving Food Systems	p. 149
Nutrition Policy Councils and Rights	p. 151
The Mission of Nutrition Policy Councils	p. 152
Diagnosing Global Approaches	p. 154
The Global Efforts	p. 154
The Millennium Promise	p. 158
The Medical Approach to Malnutrition	p. 159
Coordination Without Planning	p. 164
Modest Aspirations	p. 167
Multi-Level Strategic Planning	p. 170
Inclusive Global Planning	p. 172
Global Support for Local Self-Reliance	p. 174
Subsidiarity	p. 177
The Cellular Approach	p. 178
Layered Nutrition Policy Councils	p. 180
Building the Motivation to End Hunger	p. 182
Appendix: American Samoa Executive Order	p. 185
Bibliography	p. 191
Index	p. 217
About the Author	p. 225
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