Overview
American food aid to foreigners long has been the most visible-and most popular-means of providing humanitarian aid to millions of hungry people confronted by war, terrorism and natural cataclysms and the resulting threat-often the reality-of famine and death. The book investigates the little-known, not-well-understood and often highly-contentious political processes which have converted American agricultural production into tools of U.S. government policy.In The Political History of American Food Aid, Barry Riley explores the influences of humanitarian, domestic agricultural policy, foreign policy, and national security goals that have created the uneasy relationship between benevolent instincts and the realpolitik of national interests. He traces how food aid has been used from the earliest days of the republic in widely differing circumstances: as a response to hunger, a weapon to confront the expansion of bolshevism after World War I and communism after World War II, a method for balancing disputes between Israel and Egypt, a channel for disposing of food surpluses, a signal of support to friendly governments, and a means for securing the votes of farming constituents or the political support of agriculture sector lobbyists, commodity traders, transporters and shippers. Riley's broad sweep provides a profound understanding of the complex factors influencing American food aid policy and a foundation for examining its historical relationship with relief, economic development, food security and its possible future in a world confronting the effects of global climate change.
Full Product Details
Author: Barry Riley (Visiting Scholar, Visiting Scholar, Center on Food Security and the Environment, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University)
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:
Width: 25.10cm
, Height: 3.30cm
, Length: 15.70cm
Weight: 0.975kg
ISBN: 9780190228873
ISBN 10: 0190228873
Pages: 592
Publication Date: 12 October 2017
Audience:
General/trade
,
Professional and scholarly
,
General
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
Given the breadth and depth of the analysis, this landmark study offers the most authoritative and historically comprehensive assessment of the politics of American food aid. It is essential reading for anyone concerned with food aid and humanitarian assistance. * M. Amstutz, CHOICE *
This fascinating and well-written book is without doubt the most comprehensive history of US food assistance ever written, and a complete record of that assistance over a much longer time period than previous works have examined. No one is better placed to write this history than Barry Riley. - Daniel Maxwell is the Henry J. Leir Professor in Food Security at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and the Acting Director of the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University Barry Riley combines the wisdom of a long-time programmer of food aid with the passion of a political historian determined to uncover both the important and the unusual. His volume flows beautifully from start to finish, and his descriptions of the Herbert Hoover and Lyndon Johnson eras are especially noteworthy. A 'must read' for anyone with even the slightest interest in American food aid programs. -Walter Falcon, Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford University Barry Riley provides a profound contribution to debates over international food policy, politics, and their moral implications. His historical overview of strategic doctrines and normative considerations governing American food aid assistance will serve as an indispensable resource in guiding future policy. -Edward Weisband, Edward S. Diggs Endowed Chair Professor in the Social Sciences, Department of Political Science, Virginia Tech
Author Information
Barry Riley is a Visiting Scholar at the Center on Food Security and the Environment in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. For nearly 50 years, he has been a participant in the domain of foreign economic assistance, first with the U.S. Government, then the World Bank, and finally as a private consultant. In recent decades, he has sought to discover how American international food aid has been shaped and reshaped over two centuries to serve the widely differing objectives of Presidents, legislators, and interest groups operating in quite distinct periods of American history.
