Бакалавриат
2026/2027
Глобальная продовольственная безопасность
Статус:
Курс по выбору (Международная программа «Международные отношения и глобальные исследования»)
Кто читает:
Факультет мировой экономики и мировой политики
Где читается:
Факультет мировой экономики и мировой политики
Когда читается:
3-й курс, 4 модуль
Охват аудитории:
для своего кампуса
Язык:
английский
Кредиты:
3
Контактные часы:
40
Course Syllabus
Abstract
This course walks you through the big questions of global food security (from the first cultivated fields to today’s supply chains). We look at how food is produced and why it sometimes fails to reach those who need it. Along the way we will discuss sustainable farming, yield and quality, plant and animal breeding, GMOs, and what really moves productivity. We also map how food is distributed and consider what malnutrition and chronic poverty do to people and communities, and what can actually change that in practice.
Learning Objectives
- Develop students’ understanding of the different dimensions of food security, including food availability, access, utilization, nutrition and stability, and the ways in which these dimensions interact.
- Examine food security as an issue of international politics and political economy, including the roles of states, international organizations, markets, multinational corporations, humanitarian actors and civil society.
- Analyze the relationship between food insecurity, conflict, political instability, displacement and humanitarian crises, with attention to the political dimensions of famine and starvation.
- Examine the role of international trade, global food markets, supply chains, food-price shocks and export restrictions in creating both interdependence and vulnerability.
- Explore the links between climate change, water scarcity, land degradation, biodiversity and agricultural production, and assess how these environmental pressures affect countries and regions differently.
- Analyze the nutrition dimension of food security, including hunger, malnutrition, the affordability of healthy diets, changing consumption patterns and the political economy of food environments.
- Examine the roles, capacities and limitations of FAO, WFP, IFAD, WHO, the UN system, the Committee on World Food Security, the HLPE and other international institutions involved in global food governance. Study the role of Member States.
- Develop a comparative geographical perspective on food security by examining major regional patterns and differences across Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and other relevant geographical areas.
- Develop students’ ability to use FAO/UN data, indicators, maps and flagship reports to analyze global and regional food-security trends and support empirical arguments.
- Assess how technology, innovation and changing agrifood systems may affect food security and international relations, including questions surrounding agricultural technology, digitalization among others.
- Develop students’ ability to compare competing explanations of food insecurity and to distinguish between structural causes, immediate shocks, vulnerability and resilience.
- Introduce students to long-term scenarios for global food systems, including the implications of demographic change, economic development, climate change, resource constraints and changing diets for food security toward 2050 and beyond.
Expected Learning Outcomes
- Define and distinguish major dimensions and indicators of food security, famine, acute food insecurity and malnutrition
- Interpret global and regional food-security patterns using FAO/UN evidence and country-level cases.
- Analyze food trade, supply chains, export restrictions, logistics and food-price shocks as issues of interdependence and power.
- Assess climate, water, land, biodiversity and agricultural-production risks and policy trade-offs.
- Analyze nutrition, affordability and food environments, including the political economy of diets and ultra-processed foods.
- Compare international institutions and governance mechanisms and evaluate their capacity to coordinate action.
- Critically assess agricultural technologies, digitalization, gene editing, alternative proteins and controlled-environment agriculture.
- Use scenario thinking to discuss possible food-system futures to 2050–2100.
- Formulate evidence-based policy recommendations and identify likely unintended consequences.
Course Contents
- Foundations of Global Food Security (proposed)
- Famine, Conflict and the Politics of Starvation
- The Geography of Global Food Insecurity
- Global Food Trade: Interdependence, Power and Vulnerability
- Climate Change, Water and the Future of Agricultural Production
- Agriculture, Land, Biodiversity and Environmental Trade-offs
- Food Systems, Nutrition and the Politics of Diets
- Institutions and Global Governance of Food Security
- Technology, Innovation and the Political Economy of Food
- The Future of Food: 2050–2100
Assessment Elements
- Seminar participation and workStudents are assessed on their regular and substantive participation in seminars. Assessment takes into account: preparation for seminars and familiarity with the assigned literature; active and constructive participation in discussions; ability to use empirical evidence and FAO/UN data; ability to apply course concepts to country and regional cases; ability to formulate and defend an argument; contribution to comparative and geographical analysis of food-security issues.
- In-class written assessmentThe written assessment evaluates students’ ability to independently apply the concepts, analytical frameworks and empirical material covered in the course.
- Blocking oral examinationThe oral examination assesses knowledge of the principal concepts and analytical approaches covered in the course; understanding of the four dimensions of food security: availability, access, utilization and stability; knowledge of major global and regional food-security patterns; ability to compare geographical areas and country cases; understanding of the roles of sovereign states as well as FAO, WFP, IFAD, WHO, the UN system; ability to analyze the links between food security, conflict, trade, climate change, resources, nutrition and global governance; ability to construct a coherent argument and respond to follow-up questions; ability to support arguments with relevant empirical evidence.
- Analytical work as a separate activityStudents complete an individual analytical assignment focused on a specific food-security problem, country, region, policy or international institution.
Interim Assessment
- 2026/2027 2nd module0.15 * Analytical work as a separate activity + 0.25 * In-class written assessment + 0.35 * Blocking oral examination + 0.25 * Seminar participation and work
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- 9781849776615 - John Ingram, Polly Ericksen, Diana Liverman - Food Security and Global Environmental Change - 2010 - Routledge - http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=473970 - nlebk - 473970
- Burgess, R., & Donaldson, D. (2010). Can openness mitigate the effects of weather shocks? Evidence from India’s famine era. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.7A2EF425
- Ghose, B. (2014). Food security and food self-sufficiency in China: from past to 2050. Food & Energy Security, 3(2), 86–95. https://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.48
- Susan A. Crate, & Mark Nuttall. (2016). Anthropology and Climate Change : From Actions to Transformations: Vol. Second edition. Routledge.
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Bulkeley, H. (2013). Cities and Climate Change. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=573559