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Nobel winning economist, Amartya Sen has said:

"No famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy," he wrote in "Democracy as Freedom" (Anchor, 1999)

Source: Does Democracy Avert Famine?

My question: Is there any documented evidence for this statement? A study proving that no functioning democracy has ever faced a famine would be an ideal proof.

Definition of famine:

While there are various definitions of famine, many experts say that there must be evidence of three specific outcomes before a famine can be declared:

  1. At least 20 percent of households face extreme food shortages with limited ability to cope.
  2. The prevalence of global acute malnutrition must exceed 30 percent.
  3. Death rates must exceed 2 deaths per 10,000 people per day.

Source: Hunger

Flimzy
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tempusfugit
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    If we found an example of a famine in a democracy, could proponents of the claim simply say, "well, it wasn't a functioning democracy, then". –  Jul 29 '14 at 18:40
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    @Articuno Only if they're Scottish. – William Grobman Jul 29 '14 at 19:39
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    What do they mean by "global"? Worldwide? If so, why would that matter to the form of government? And 3 would muck with minimum state population levels... What constitutes a "functioning democracy"? Would ancient Athens count? What was the total population then? If you have somebody who was dying of malnutrition _anyways_, do you count them? And must the famine occupy the whole country, or do you count a localized one too? So yeah, this sounds like a definition issue... – Clockwork-Muse Jul 30 '14 at 13:48

1 Answers1

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This is a "No true Scotsman" argument.

For example there was the great famine in Ireland in the 1850s when it was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which was clearly a democracy.

Of course, this is explicitly excluded because it was not a "functioning" democracy.

Another example would be the home fronts during World War II. Although many countries were not democratic, a few were, and famine and malnutrition was endemic in Europe.

Of course, this was during a war, so it could be called a different case yet again.

Wikipedia's list of famines clearly shows that famines have happened in many democratic countries, including the United States.

My speculation is that this has much more to do with functioning economies than functioning democracies. Single-party states such as China, Vietnam or Eritrea have functioning economies but lack democracy, and as far as I know seem not to be having famines recently.

So, a functioning democracy is not needed to have a functioning economy.

Wikipedia has a section on the causes of famine: sure enough, government policy is a possible cause, but so are natural causes

Many famines are caused by imbalance of food production compared to the large populations of countries whose population exceeds the regional carrying capacity

This makes it clear why a functioning economy helps on both counts: a functioning economy is only possible if the government does not make economic policy mistakes (first cause), and a functioning economy generates, in all likelihood, a stronger agriculture and food abundance.

Sklivvz
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    I would not accept your sentence "a functioning democracy is not needed to have a functioning economy" and suggest you to read Why Nations Fail ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_Nations_Fail ) by Acemoglu and Robinson. – Envite Jul 30 '14 at 13:51
  • Democracies fail too. Eg Iraq. @Envite – Sklivvz Jul 30 '14 at 13:52
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    The book explains Why Nations Fail, and it does not say that democracies do not fail. Democracy is only a requisite, not the solution. – Envite Jul 30 '14 at 14:12
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    I've pointed out examples of failed democracies and successful single party states, so democracy is neither necessary nor sufficient. I don't really know what to do with your comment. Telling me to go read a book is nonconstructive feedback and does not convey, nor prove, a point. – Sklivvz Jul 30 '14 at 16:22
  • A great response, but I would say that you have the bad economy creates famine backwards. There are a lot of causes for food shortages that are not sparked by a bad economy. Yes, something wrong with an economy can cause a food shortage, but more often than not is a weather/disease based, or some human action outside of economic. – Jonathon Jul 31 '14 at 00:15
  • @JonathonWisnoski This is getting into chicken-and-egg semantics, but it can be argued that a bad economy acts at a catalyst that turns what *could* have been a minor localized setback due to bad weather or disease into a nationwide famine. A strong economy with a functioning government could react to the disaster by ordering subsidies and/or increasing food imports to alleviate the situation before things go from "terrible harvest" to "catastrophic famine". – Shadur Jul 31 '14 at 07:01
  • @JonathonWisnoski Heck, a stable government might be able to pull out of it even if the economy's tanked by appealing to the global community for emergency aid. You'd be surprised how much even countries that don't like you would be willing to chip in, especially if the alternative is a collapse and waves of starving refugees crossing the borders... – Shadur Jul 31 '14 at 07:03
  • @Sklivvz I'm challenging your sentence about democracy not being a requisite of functioning economies. Your point is that there are successful single-state parties, but China, Vietnam nor Eritrea are really successful economies. China has about two-thirds of its population devoted to farming/fishing ( http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/ ) and this is consequence of a non-inclusive gov. Rural poors in Vietnam are 11mill from 86mill (same). GNI per capita are 4k and 2k respectively. And about Eritrea, "53 per cent of the country's households fell below the poverty line" (same). Eritrea? Really? – Envite Jul 31 '14 at 07:44
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    All: this discussion is not really about my answer but about your opinions. It belongs in [chat] and not here. – Sklivvz Jul 31 '14 at 07:53
  • Netherlands were highly functional democracy before and during WW2 but still they endured famine. Important to add that it was mostly staged by Germans. – Andrey Aug 04 '14 at 21:06