Famine, the last act?

Abstract

Dessalegn Rahmato contends that “Famine is the closing scene of a drama whose most important and decisive acts have been played out behind closed doors.” This paper will critically analyse this statement and evaluate its implications for humanitarian response and intervention. The work is structured as follows. First it will look at different interpretations of famine. Next it looks at systems theory as a base for a framework that it will employ in the analyses. This framework is made up of three types of “doors”: the governmental doors, the private doors and the NGO’s doors. The paper will look behind these doors and see if the decisions taken there have indeed led to famine being the closing scene of a drama.

Keywords

• famine
• transparency
• state
• private
• NGOs