The Political Economy of Food

Abstract

This issue of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) Bulletin on the political economy of food puts power squarely in the spotlight in the efforts to address the challenges of our prevailing food systems. It explores the main debates and discussions that emerged from a workshop on the political economies of sustainable food systems, which was jointly organised by the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) and IDS in 2018.The central enquiry is to question how we could better address the various inadequacies observed in our prevailing food systems. Across a number of papers, this IDS Bulletin issue presents a compelling argument for power analysis as the knife that could slice through the nebulous food systems to create an entry point for meaningful transformations. In our following review, the authors cited are contributors to this IDS Bulletin issue, of which their articles are published within.