The Political Ecology of Famine: The North Korean Catastrophe and Its Lessons

Abstract

This paper critically examines the influential argument by Amartya Sen on the relationship between famine and political regime theory and exposes its limitations, particularly in the case of the Great Leap Famine. Using the little studied but tragic North Korea famine, the author explores its root causes in the context of food availability decline and complex ecological disruptions and interactions, including the El Nino Southern Oscillation in weather patterns.