The Rise of Food Realism: Food security paradigm change at a time of global crisis.

Sammanfattning: In late 2007 and early 2008, the price of food on international commodity markets rose rapidly to unprecedented levels. This period of time has since been known as the global food crisis; a time characterised by growing poverty, malnutrition and political unrest. Food prices have since settled, though at a higher level than before, but during and directly after the crisis governments around the world were eager to protect themselves and their populations from the effects of a volatile market and an uncertain future where staple foods might no longer be cheap and readily availiable. In this paper, I explore the actions taken by governments through the lense of security theory and characterise both a pre- and post-crisis set of security norms in world food politics. The latter is achieved through a dimension-based analysis of the ideas present in crisis responses from over 80 countries, where the characteristics of neo-realist security theory are contrasted with the critical, emancipatory vision of the Welsh School of security studies. By comparing pre-crisis security norms to my analysis of the post-crisis situation, I shed light on a time of changing ideas and security strategies where states seem increasingly willing to pursue their food security interests aggressively, at the expense of international trade and cooperation. Despite this, the normative influence of international organisations appears strengthened, with many states looking to these for new ways of improving food security for vulnerable populations.