Fiat Panis: Food Security and Biopolitics in the Committee for World Food Security

The task of overseeing food security at an international scale is complicated by the multi-variable and complex nature of the problem. Nevertheless, much policy and governance work has been done through international, most of all through the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Within the FAO, the Committee for World Food Security (CFS) formalizes food security policy, guidelines, and assessments, acting as the main food security governance body within the much broader FAO. Previous research has pointed out the presence of a food security governance system but has not interrogated how power can be understood within this system. I use Foucault’s theory of biopolitics, along with critical discourse analysis and discursive institutionalism, to determine how the CFS enacts biopolitical governance through its discursive framework, and what tools the CFS uses to achieve this governance. I find that through both the CFS’ heavy emphasis on food production as a solution to food insecurity and the comprehensive use of statistical analysis, a system of biopolitical governance is achieved