Because these regions have the some of the most adverse environmental conditions the link between the two has been easily claimed, saying that drought, monsoon, late rains and crop failure due to disease or pests would mean lower levels of productivity and would lead to less availability of food thus incurring a famine. It is similarly agreed that rapid population growth means a sharing of the same amount of resources and so prices would rise and the most vulnerable would be affected. Whilst it cannot be denied that these "proximate" (Young 1996) causes of hunger are relevant, they have received "undue" levels of attention, these factors are now just thought to be triggers, but will only be effective as triggers in already existing "spaces of vulnerability". The factors that make regions susceptible to these triggers are far more serious and deep rooted in the structural political and historical processes in that region, and this will be the main area of study in my essay.
Sen (1981) first used the term "entitlement" in regards to food, he said the failure of socially specific entitlements such as property rights, asset distribution, class and gender would lead to food availability decline and famine and hunger. Sen saw the role of labour power as being critical in people's potential to have access to the necessary food supplies. Labour power is the only asset that some people in the South have to work and if they are not allowed to exploit this asset, their power to command food is weakened. Sen also looked at the distributive methods of food, that is, what determines "how available food is distributed and how politics, economics and ideology influence its distribution" (Arnold 1988; Young 1996). The most recent thought on the subjects taken Sen's theories one step further. They do not go against what he said, but they suggest that there were some major omissions in his arguments, I am going to examine these new theories looking at causes on global, national and local scales.
