1. The Missing Link

Buchanan-Smith, Margaret; Davies, Susanna

doi:10.3362/9781780444925.001

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…As mentioned in the previous section, by the end of the 1990s, many people in sub-Saharan Africa found themselves facing a protracted crisis. Early warning had rarely led to early response, and targeting strategies rarely reached the most vulnerable (see, for example, Buchanan-Smith and Davies, 1995; Jaspars and Shoham, 1999). Aid workers had to show ever higher levels of malnutrition to get a response, reflecting what Bradbury has called the ‘normalisation of crisis’ (Bradbury, 1998).…”

Section: Creating a Fantasy: The Function And Dangers Of Regimes Of Untruthsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Protracted crisis, food security and the fantasy of resilience in Sudan

Jaspars

2020

Security Dialogue

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In the past decade, food security and nutrition practices have become central in the promotion of resilience in protracted crises. Such approaches have been welcomed by the aid community because of their potential for linking relief and development. Social and political analysts, however, have criticized resilience approaches for failing to consider power relations and because they entail an acceptance of crisis or repeated risk. In this context, regimes of food security and nutrition practices have become increasingly targeted, privatized and medicalized, focussing on individual behaviour and responsibility rather than responsibility of the state or international actors. This article uses examples from Sudan to examine how and why the resilience ‘regime of practices’ has functioned as a form of neoliberal governmentality, and argues that it has created a fantasy in which conflict in Darfur is invisible. This allowed food aid to be withdrawn and removed the need for protection despite ongoing conflict and threats to livelihoods; thus crisis-affected populations have been abandoned.

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Section: Creating a Fantasy: The Function And Dangers Of Regimes Of Untruthsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Protracted crisis, food security and the fantasy of resilience in Sudan

Jaspars

2020

Security Dialogue

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“…On the institutional side, Buchanan-Smith and Davies’ study (1995) reveals that institutional response to early warning forecasts is influenced by a variety of external factors – political, attitudinal, legal, financial, logistical, ideological and institutional – that are unrelated to the scientific data. If such factors influence institutional responses, it is equally likely that they should also influence communities’ and households’ responses to early warning, yet our knowledge and understanding of this area remains limited especially in developing countries.…”

Section: Risk Perception and Awarenessmentioning

confidence: 99%

The human dimension of early warning – a viewpoint

Hamza¹,

Månsson²

2019

IJDRBE

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Purpose The 2004 Boxing Day tsunami prompted global efforts to develop end-to-end multi-hazard warning systems. Taking this event as a starting point, and drawing on experiences from the following advancement of the Indonesian tsunami early warning system, this paper aims to highlight the importance of paying attention to human factors and the perceptions and behaviors of end recipients when trying to design efficient early warning systems. Design/methodology/approach The study is a viewpoint where theoretical frameworks for the design of efficient early warning systems are used as backdrop to an extensive review and analysis of secondary data, including scientific papers and newspaper articles. Findings The paper presents what an end-to-end warning system means, explores process problems related to perception and communication and concludes with views and recommendations toward more inclusive early warnings. Originality/value Research and practice related to early warning systems have traditionally had a strong focus on technological elements whilst the target groups of early warnings (i.e. communities) have received far less attention and resources. This paper focuses on the human dimension of warning systems and uses a real case to exemplify how efficient warning systems not only require a sound scientific and technological basis, but also depend on the awareness, trust and will of the people they aim to protect.

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“…A similar point can be made about the follow-up to the WFS. There is an analogy here with work on early warning systems for drought in Africa: the investment in information may not be matched by investment in action, so that the link between early warning and response becomes 'the missing link' (Buchanan- Smith and Davies 1995). To paraphrase Marshal McLuhan, 'the message itself becomes the message'.…”

Section: The Sceptical Argument Unpackedmentioning

confidence: 99%

International Targets for Poverty Reduction and Food Security: A Mildly Sceptical But Resolutely Pragmatic View With a Call for Greater Subsidiarity

Maxwell¹

1999

IDS Bulletin

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Summaries International development targets adopted by UN Conferences provide political impetus, focus expenditure and help in monitoring progress. However, simple targets can misrepresent complex realities and distort policy. Monitoring targets can have a high opportunity cost. Political impetus can be lost if targets are over‐ambitious. Food security illustrates the uses of targets and the risks involved. Simple hunger or nutrition targets have been attractive to policymakers but have been problematic conceptually, and routinely overambitious in practice. Greater subsidiarity may be the answer, with simple international targets being used as a platform for local action. Subsidiarity means more than developing national action plans to implement international targets: it is potentially more open, participatory subversive and deviant.

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1. The Missing Link

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Protracted crisis, food security and the fantasy of resilience in Sudan

Protracted crisis, food security and the fantasy of resilience in Sudan

The human dimension of early warning – a viewpoint

International Targets for Poverty Reduction and Food Security: A Mildly Sceptical But Resolutely Pragmatic View With a Call for Greater Subsidiarity

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