Russia's War in Ukraine as a Threat to Global Food Security

• In Event: Assessing Ongoing Militarized Conflicts

Abstract

The war in Ukraine that began in 2022 has had a significant impact on grain supplies in the world. Ukraine is one of the largest grain producers and exporters, and the conflict has led to a reduction in grain supplies. War in Ukraine is a threat to global food security, which primarily affects poor countries. Using the grain deal as a trump card, Russia hoped to bring Ukraine to the negotiating table and use it as a lever to lift sanctions imposed on Russia. In this regard, the grain deal became a weapon of war. This paper uses Paul Collier's concept of "poverty traps" and his analysis of the "bottom billion" global citizens who are trapped in food insecurity as a framework for analyzing the effects of the war in Ukraine on global food security. By applying Collier's framework to data from the World Bank and the U. N. Food and Agriculture Organization, this paper discusses how the economic dependency, specifically related to food, that globalization forces on low-income countries makes these countries particularly vulnerable to the effects of wars and economic crises, worsening the international food crisis. Russia's war in Ukraine is a prime example of how a Western European crisis has affected the prices of food and fertilizers in countries far removed from the conflict. Poor countries suffer from shortages of foodstuff and fertilizers, which exacerbates global inequality.

Author

• Mariia Kharchik, California State University Long Beach, Department of Political Science