Shifting geopolitical fault lines and global food security

The current global turbulence, with growing tensions between, and within, geopolitical alliances, tariff wars and (hybrid) conflicts, has put security high on the agenda. Yet what these new geopolitical vault lines mean for food security, has remained understudied. 

The 2022 Black Sea blockade, which halted most of Ukraine’s grain export and triggered record spikes in food prices, temporary generated much attention for worldwide food security. Yet a more global and fundamental analysis of what food security entails in the current geopolitical turbulence, is still in its infancy, certainly in policy circles.

This international workshop will attempt to bridge with this gap by asking:

• With international agencies such as the World Food Programme, FAO and WTO being undermined by geopolitical tensions, and Western developmental NGOs facing serious budget cuts, which actors are likely to remain or emerge as positive forces striving towards global food security? 
• To what extent can the EU step up its role in food security (e.g. in addressing food speculation)? 
• Which actors in the Global South might drive new global food security efforts, and in what way? 
• To what extent might the intensifying geopolitics fault lines beyond the clear negative effects on the current, Washington-consensus based international structure also open opportunities (as well as new risks) for food security initiatives by novel actors?

Speakers

• Merle Schulken, PhD student in economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• Myriam Vander Stichele, Associate at the Transnational Institute and co-author of a recent European Parliament report on commodity traders.
• Irna Hofman, Research Associate, School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford University, author of articles on Chinese, Russian and Western investment in agrifood in Central Asia.
• Stefan Voicu, Postdoctoral Fellow at Central European University, Vienna
• Cristina Sathyamala, Researcher at ISS and IHD New Delhi 

The event is organized and moderated by Dr Oane Visser, Associate Professor in Agrarian Studies at the International Institute of Social Studies.

This workshop is organized and sponsored by the Political Ecology research group.