Rice, politics and power: the political economy of food insecurity in East Asia

Abstract

This thesis has three main objectives: (1) to provide a critical political economy study of the complex interplay between rice, politics and power in East Asia; (2) to make a contribution to understanding the evolution of the regional and global food system through an historically-contextualised exploration of the political economy of rice in the East Asian region; and (3) to make a contribution towards an alternative analytical framework for the political economy of food insecurity in the region. This study focuses on the agricultural commodity of rice as a prism through which to examine and explore the complex and multidimensional nature of food insecurity in the region, with rice providing a lens through which to explore social relations and relations of power that underpin the political economy of food and agriculture. This study has identified a gap in literature in relation to a contemporary analysis of the political economy of rice, with a second gap appearing in relation to the evolution of the global food system from an East Asian perspective. This thesis aims to make a contribution towards addressing these gaps in literature. With these objectives in mind, this thesis responds to the following research questions and sub-questions: (1) What are the socio-political and economic characteristics of the commodity complex of rice in the East Asian region? What role does the political economy of rice play in regional food insecurity? (2) What does the political economy of rice in the East Asian region reveal about the characteristics of the contemporary global food system? To what extent do the socio-political and economic characteristics of the commodity complex of rice in the East Asian region contradict or reaffirm a ‘neoliberal corporate food regime’? (3) What does the political economy of rice in the East Asian region reveal about the Global Food Crisis of 2007–08? (4) What are the regional governance structures and institutions for the commodity complex of rice? How effective are these regional structures and institutions of governance, such as regional rice reserves, in addressing food insecurity? To investigate these questions, this thesis adopts an interdisciplinary theoretical framework. This approach draws on the strengths of a variety of social and political science disciplines, including critical approaches to international political economy (IPE), rural sociology and agrarian political economy. The objective of this collaborative interdisciplinary approach is to provide a more holistic exposition of the socio-political and economic dimensions of the commodity complex of rice and food insecurity in East Asia. The thesis argues four main points. Firstly, due to the cultural, socio-political, and economic importance of rice in East Asia, few governments in the region have allowed the domestic rice sector to be influenced wholly by global market supply and demand forces. Rather, governments in the region routinely intervene in rice markets in an attempt to reconcile the paradoxical objectives of providing low rice prices for consumers and remunerative incentives to support the lives and livelihoods of farmers. Secondly, state-centric approaches to food security after the Global Food Crisis of 2007–08 have spatially and temporally reproduced food insecurities, moving these insecurities around geographically within the region. Thirdly, much of the critical agri-food literature to date has focused on the neoliberal characteristics of the corporate food regime. However, this literature has often overlooked the nuances in varieties of capitalism in East Asia, largely ignoring the rise of state capitalism and the emergence of neomercantilism. Finally, the East Asian rice complex is characterised by state-led capitalism and neomercantilism. The concept of a global ‘neoliberal/corporate food regime’ does not properly account for the agri-food sector in the East Asian region, nor does it capture the unique historical and cultural context of the region. Many states in the East Asian region, including China and Thailand, employ neomercantilist strategies in the rice sector. The thesis makes four contributions to knowledge. Firstly, by adopting an interdisciplinary theoretical framework, this research makes a contribution to a broad range of agri-food literature in the fields of critical IPE, rural sociology and agrarian political economy. Secondly, it brings new conceptual knowledge and empirical information from case studies about China and Thailand into existing literature on the regional and global agri-food system, and the political economy of rice in East Asia. Thirdly, case studies about the Global Food Crisis of 2007–08 and the role of regional rice reserves in the East Asian region bring new conceptual knowledge and empirical information into existing literature on these topics. Finally, the thesis provides new analysis in relation to food regime literature, and makes a contribution to understanding the commodity complex of rice in the agri-food system of East Asia.