Thiago Lima & Agostina Costantino 
Food Security and International Relations 
Critical Perspectives From the Global South

People are often surprised to learn that although the current global levels of food production are sufficient to feed all of humanity, the problems of undernourishment increase year by year in many countries. Economic growth, while important, is not a guarantee for reducing hunger. The intensification of income concentration worldwide, in the face of the persistence of millions of hungry families, demonstrates that economic interest is not guided by the needs of humanity. Moreover, the problem of food no longer refers to the lack of food alone. Many people are still unaware that our diets are not simply choices of taste and tradition but the result of international dynamics driven by geopolitical factors, the trajectory of capitalism, and other ulterior forces.

The authors deepen the link between international relations and food security by exploring the humanitarian and ethical importance of a solution to the problem of hunger; the role of the state as a strategically relevant actor in achieving food security; and the nature of the problem of food security in a world in which the rationale guiding food production and distribution is a capitalist one.

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Thiago Lima is Adjunct Professor at the Department of International Relations of the Federal University of Paraiba (UFPB), Brazil. He has been coordinating the Research Group on Hunger and International Relations (Fome RI) at UFPB since 2012.

Agostina Costantino is Professor of economics of the National University of the South in Bahía Blanca, Argentina, and a researcher at CONICET (National Council of Scientific and Technical Research) at IIESS (Institute of Research and Social Studies of the South). She specializes in research on natural resources and development and Latin American political economy.