The Political Economy of Famine: State Agency, Conflict-Induced Food Insecurity, and IHL in South Sudan

This article presents a novel theoretical synthesis for analysing famine in contemporary conflict zones, using South Sudan post-2021 as its primary case. It argues that prevailing narratives framing food insecurity as a tragic outcome of climatic or economic collapse are depoliticised and inadequate. Instead, the analysis foregrounds deliberate political agency, contending that famine is a calculated instrument of war and governance. To elucidate this, the paper develops an integrated tripartite framework. This framework first examines how state and non-state actors deliberately manipulate channels of food access—production, markets, and aid. It then details the specific political economy tactics that operationalise this agency, such as asset stripping, illicit trade blockades, and inflationary warfare. Crucially, the third pillar rigorously applies International Humanitarian Law (IHL) as an analytical lens, demonstrating how these tactics constitute specific violations, including the use of starvation as a method of warfare. Consequently, the analysis moves beyond purely socio-economic explanations to offer a refined diagnostic tool. It reconceptualises famine not as a systemic failure but as a core political strategy, thereby providing critical insights for policymakers and humanitarian actors seeking to address the deliberate logics underpinning food insecurity in protracted conflicts.