„A World without Famine“? Internationale Ernährungspolitik im Zeitalter der Weltkriege

Abstract

„A World without Famine?” International Food Politics in the era of the World Wars

This paper analyzes the emergence and trajectories of global food policies from the late 9th century to the post-Word War II era. For a long time, scholarship has focused on the question how domestic governments and nationalist movements have responded to the challenges of globalizing food markets through protectionist policy agendas. It has been argued that ‘first’ globalization came to end with the World War I. This paper takes a different view. It argues that since the early 20th century, the provision, distribution and consumption of food became a mayor problem of international politics. This process was accelerated by the First World War which dramatically revealed the global interdependence of food markets. At the same, a new notion of food policies emerged, embracing problems of nutrition, demographics and economic development on a global scale. The discussions and experiences of the two Word Wars had a deep impact on international food and development policies after 1945.