6. The Political Accountability Approach

This chapter develops a political approach to famine. The approach is based on ethical deliberations of humanitarian accountability which support the argument that governments must carry the core responsibility for famines while other key actors should only be assigned contributory responsibilities. Insights into the nature of contemporary famine lead to the recognition that famines are inherently political in much the same manner as genocides or pogroms. Humanitarian acts of philanthropy and redistribution by themselves, therefore, will be insufficient to eradicate contemporary famines. Broadening the analytical scope to include political accountability is necessary. While some existing political approaches are adept at analyzing famines as political failures, a more inductive and explorative approach is warranted to analyze famines as outcomes of political processes. The chapter introduces the political accountability approach that is based on multistage analyses along the dimensions of interest and power. Two examples from India and Somalia are used to illustrate how the political accountability approach can be applied.