ABSTRACT

Food policy is a predominantly overlooked vector of state formation in Africa. Comparing the trajectories of food policy in Senegal and Uganda, this article shows how internationally embedded food policies underpin state domination. It highlights three themes – early colonial food policies, the rise of organisational knowledge and the internationalisation of state domination through multilateral “assistance”. This argument is based on field research in both countries and on official documents and secondary literature. Its theoretical orientation draws upon a historical sociology of the State, as opposed to the idea of the heroic nation-state or the State as a component of “global ‘governance'”. We claim that food policy is highly politicised and that its effects on the State deserve much more attention in International Relations (IR), on the one hand, and state theory on the other. To study politics around food, we argue, would help to globalise IR.

摘要

粮食政策是非洲国家形成的主要被忽视的载体。本文比较了塞内加尔和乌干达的粮食政策轨迹，展示了国际化的粮食政策如何支撑国家统治。它突出了三个主题——早期殖民食品政策、组织知识的兴起和通过多边“援助”实现国家统治的国际化。这一论点基于两国的实地研究以及官方文件和二手文献。它的理论取向借鉴了国家的历史社会学，而不是英雄民族国家或国家作为“全球'治理'”的组成部分的想法。我们声称食品政策高度政治化，其对国家的影响在国际关系（IR）中值得更多关注，一方面是状态理论。我们认为，围绕食品研究政治将有助于国际关系的全球化。