Browsing by Author "Du Plessis, Elizabeth Johanna"

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    The politics of food in Southern Africa: A food regime/movements framework
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-03) Du Plessis, Elizabeth Johanna; Swart, Gerrie; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Political Science.
    English Abstract: This study seeks to uncover the prevailing food ideology of Southern Africa, by exploring South Africa, Malawi, and Zimbabwe’s approach to food security. The explorative discussion is aided by three supplementary research questions: 1) how does the Southern African context influence the region's ideologies around food?; 2) what is Southern Africa's institutional response to food insecurity?; and 3) how does the Southern African institutional response to food security differ from the actual orientation towards food and the economic model on which it is based? The theoretical framework employed is Holt-Giménez &Shattuck’s food regime/food movements framework, which has its foundation in Freedman and McMichael’s food regime analysis. To contextualise the study, the development of the global food regime is traced as it manifested in three historical eras: the settler-colonial regime (1870-1914); the surplus-regime (1945-1973); and the corporate food regime. The transition between these regimes is explained by drawing on the Gramsican notion of hegemony; as Britain’s dominance in the global political economy decreased, the United States came to influence food politics, subsequently resulting in the second food regime. Amidst globalisation, which saw a decrease in the power of nation states, the food regime was restructured once again as neoliberalism came to shape food production and distribution. However, the 2007-2008 food price crisis served as a turning point when this dominant food ideology came under threat, as indicated by widespread food riots in both the developed and developing world. Consequently the need for a new food regime arose. The effects of the crisis were especially detrimental in Southern Africa which is characterised by low levels of food security. The socio-economic evolution of food insecurity in Southern Africa can largely be attributed to the role the region played throughout the development of the global food regime; each era having a lasting impact on the formation of political institutions, economic rationales, and social configurations in the region. As the marginalised position of Southern Africa within the global food regime became more apparent, and amidst the backdrop of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, attempts to address food security manifested in an array of food security frameworks. South Africa, Malawi, and Zimbabwe (the three dominant agricultural countries in Southern Africa) each adopted a different official approach to food security, and subsequently these countries offer great insights into both the challenges in the region, and more importantly, into how the state, private sector and international relations intersect to produce distinct food security ideologies.