Food Price Rises and Political Instability: Problematizing a Complex Relationship

Recent spikes in international food prices and the occurrence of ‘food riots’ in the period 2007-2008 has led many researchers to investigate the links between food prices and conflict or political instability more closely. However, this emerging literature suffers from a number of flaws and misunderstandings. The objective of this paper is to discuss these further and offer ways of addressing them. I focus on three main issues: firstly, the vague use of concepts such as ‘political instability’ or ‘conflict’, which leads to conceptual and empirical confusion. In addition, specific doubts are placed on the usefulness of the ‘food riot’ concept. Secondly, the often uncritical data gathering based on international media sources. And thirdly, the issue of presupposed and understudied causal mechanisms and a general neglect of the importance of context.status: publishe