Geostrategic aspects of policies on food security in the light of recent global tensions:Insights from seven countries

This study contributes to the recent literature on geostrategic aspects of economic policy and the objective of economic security by addressing food security as a subcategory within economic security. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 crisis and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this study analyses whether and how the relevance of food security as a national policy goal has changed. It focuses on the questions of whether countries’ policy choices towards this objective have initiated longer-term strategic shifts, rather than just acute reactions, and analyses the extent to which these adjustments are influenced by underlying geopolitical considerations. To answer these questions, developments in food security policies are identified, focusing primarily on the perspective of security of supply. This perspective fits with the recent political focus and current initiatives by many countries aiming at national economic and supply security in general. The approach of this paper is to observe the evolution of policy arrangements over time in seven selected national country cases, one of which is the supranational entity, the European Union (EU). This paper does not seek to identify the effectiveness of different approaches concerning food security. Instead, it focuses on describing changes within three categories of food security policy approaches: domestic food policy (including both agricultural support measures to producers and domestic food aid programs for consumers); trade which can include market liberalization measures (e.g. reduction of tariffs) and measures that lean toward national autonomy and sovereignty (e.g. by setting standards); and crisis and emergency approaches (e.g. monitoring and alert systems). The selected country cases – Brazil, China, the EU, Nigeria, the Philippines, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US) – present a diverse set of conditions in te