The many faces of food security

Food insecurity occurs when people do not have secure access to food necessary for a healthy life. The food‐insecure are typically the poor, and the traditional focus of food insecurity thinking has been the global poor. Increasingly, it is being recognized that in the rich world, food insecurity manifests itself in calorie‐rich but nutrient‐poor diets, leading to the linkage between poverty, obesity and its associated health problems. Furthermore, the historical link between income and diets, when projected forwards, shows a growth in demand that would be extremely challenging to meet with sustainable production. This is especially true given that emissions from the food system are significant contributors to climate change, perhaps more so than any other sector; and yet, probably less than half the world's calories are used directly for healthy diets (over half of agricultural production is lost or wasted, fed to animals or consumed in excess of healthy requirements). This review article, of a suite of four books, covers the way the food security argument is framed and how this is changing, food politics and justice and why our food system is as it is. The overall conclusion is that our food system is placing unsustainable demands on the planet, as well as creating injustice and inequity. The ‘productivist paradigm’ of growing ‘ever more, ever more cheaply’ while relying on international commodity trade and markets to solve the distributional issues, is unlikely to create a sustainable, just and food‐secure world.     

RAINY RIVER STURGEON: AN OJIBWAY RESOURCE IN THE FUR TRADE ECONOMY

Previous fur trade scholarship has emphasized the hunting of fur bearers and large game rather than fishing as a component of trade relations with native peoples in the northwestern interior of North America. Evidence from fur trade records of the 18th and 19th centuries clearly indicates the importance of the Rainy River sturgeon fishery to Ojibway subsistence and commerce. In addition to being a major food resource, sturgeon provided the Ojibway with a substance called isinglass, which was traditionally important and was also a marketable commodity. Derived from the air bladder of sturgeon, isinglass was highly valued in the European market. The Hudson's Bay Company took great efforts to secure supplies of isinglass from native fishermen. Analysis of isinglass returns from Hudson's Bay Company account books reveals the magnitude of sturgeon production from the Rainy River area. During the fur trade period, the sturgeon fishery was a highly productive industry, characterized by a sustained annual yield. With the advent of non-native commercial fisheries in the region, production increased beyond the level of sustained yield. This resource was virtually destroyed by the early 20th century. Les recherches antérieures consacrées au commerce des fourrures ont fait ressortir la chasse d'animaux à fourrure et de gros gibiers plutôt que la pêche cornme activité importante dans les relations comrnerciales avec les autochtones vivant à I'interieur du Nord-Ouest de I'Amériyue du Nord. Les documents touchant le commerce de la fourrure dux 18^e et 19^e siècles démontrent nettement l'importance de la pêhe aux esturgeons dans la riviéere Rainy pour les Ojibways dans leur vie et leur commerce. En plus de constituer une irnportante res-source alimentaire, l'esturgeon offrait aux Ojibways une substance appelée ichtyocolle qui avait une importance traditionnelle et représentait également un produit négotiable. Ce produit, provenant de la poche d'air de l'esturgeon ètait très estimè sur le marché européen. la compagnie de la baie d'Hudson s'est efforcée de s'ap-provisionner en ichtyocolle auprès des pêcheurs indigènes. Les livres de comptabilitè de la compagnie de labaie d'Hudson révèfent l'importance de la production d'esturgeons dans la région de la rivière Rainy. Au cours de la période du commerce des fourrures, la pêhe d'esturgeons était une industrie très productive, caractérisée par un rendement annuel soutenu. Avec I'arrivée dans la région de la pêche commerciale non-autochtone, la production a dépassé les niveaux de rendements support-ables. Cette ressource s'est trouvée virtuellement dé-truite au début du xx^e siècle.     

9/11 and the terrorism industry

9/11 has been the trigger for a decade‐long revival in research work on terrorism. The ten books under review illustrate the diversity of approaches to this growing field of study: the quality of the books does not, however, entirely refute the suggestion that there are diminishing returns to knowledge within the so‐called terrorism industry. What they all share, whether orthodox or critical, is a belief in the transformative significance of September 11: how we think about these attacks and the appropriate responses remains an area of significant disagreement.     

Shared sovereignty and the politics of peace: evaluating the EU's 'catalytic' framework in the eastern Mediterranean

There has been a consistent failure on the part of international actors over the past four decades to resolve the Cyprus problem. The EU framework, heralded as a catalyst, has failed so far to bring the two sides together, despite the significant advantages it possesses in linking resolution of the Cyprus problem with the Turkish ambition to join the EU. Cyprus has always been a testing ground for experimental approaches to dealing with conflict, and what may well emerge after the failure of the Annan Plan in 2004 is a form of 'shared sovereignty' where important governance functions that remain contested are undertaken by the UN and EU Commission. Furthermore, the EU framework has led to the Cyprus problem becoming a catalyst for Turkish accession. While very controversial, these avenues offer the opportunity for the international community to accept the political and interventionary nature of the 'peace' they prescribe.