CHAIRPERSON
Assoc Prof Jamie Davidson, Asia Research Institute, and Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore
ABSTRACT
Food occupies a crucial, yet also a contradictory, place in international politics. It is at the same time a human right, a commodity to be bought and sold, and a security asset to be regulated and deployed in the context of power politics. When, and how, do states use food as a source of international power? How do governments defend against food insecurity? How should we account for the “securitization” of food over the past decade? The vulnerabilities of global food systems are easy to observe – from the way the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the weaknesses of global supply chains, to the Russian blockade of Ukrainian grain ports in the Black Sea, and starvation used as a weapon of war in Gaza. This presentation will discuss the conditions under which states wield food as a source of international power, and the strategies they adopt to mitigate the challenges of food insecurity in the international arena. It will focus primarily on the securitization of food, and what that means for the future of global food systems.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Feryaz Ocakli is Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at Skidmore College in New York, the United States. He received his PhD in Political Science from Brown University. He teaches and conducts research on comparative politics, political economy, and food security. His recent publications examine the politics of state-business relations in late development, electoral strategies of Islamist parties, transition to authoritarianism in Turkey, and the relationship between oil and insurgency. Feryaz is currently conducting research on food security in the ASEAN region with support from the Fulbright US Scholar Program.
REGISTRATION
Registration is closed, and instructions on how to participate in this hybrid talk has been sent out to registered attendees. Please write to ziqi@nus.edu.sg if you would like to attend the event.
