1. An analysis of famine caused by
political policies

2.  Potatoes were staple crop of the poor
 Blight wiped out large amounts of the crop
from 1845-1848
 British Parliament was slow to react to the loss
of the food staple
 Exports of corn and livestock continued during
this time despite the widespread starvation

3.  British policies caused the landlords to evict
large numbers of Irish poor tenants from their
land exacerbating the problem
 British relief programs were short lived or
ineffective and politically unpopular
 Resulted in the deaths of 1.1-1.5 million Irish
 Also resulted in drastically higher emigration
rates

4.  Period of extreme hunger from 1931-33 due to
government policies
 Experts divided on cause
 Partially socioeconomic – policies of industrial
expansion, shift from traditional
crops, redistribution of all farmers crops
 Holodomor or “terror by famine”- active
propagation of hunger by authorities to prevent
social revolution

5.  Socioeconomic factors
 Collectivization-combining villages into large “collective
farms”
 Redirection of crop land from grain to sugar
beets, cotton, and other crops
 Procurement policy required all farms to provide large
amounts of harvest to the government
 Holodomor
 All food declared state property-youth organizations
were enforcers
 Elimination of wealthy or uncooperative peasants
 Estimated population loss of 6-7 million
 Severe malnutrition-even reports of cannibalism

6.  Severe reduction in food production in China
from 1958-61
 Collectivization of farming into communes at
beginning of period
 Shift to unsuccessful agricultural techniques
 Forced shift of farmers to iron and steel
production
 Continued export of grain despite widespread
famine

7.  Occurred on top of several natural disasters
that affected crop production
 Death toll estimates vary wildly; estimates
range anywhere from 15 million to 36 million
 Estimates of total population loss are as high as
76 million
 Severe hunger-Reports of
cannibalism, consumption of tree bark

8.  All three famines caused by government
policies
 Rights-citizens have a right to access to the
food the produce
 All three famines partially caused by government
appropriating food produced by starving for other
uses

9.  Categorical imperative-People should not be
treated as a means to an end
 Irish grain production exported for profit of British
landowners
 Ukrainian grain production appropriated for urban
areas
 Chinese exported grain while citizens starved

10.  Gray, Peter. 2006. Famine and Land in Ireland
and India, 1845-1880: James Caird and the
Political Economy of Hunger. The Historical
Journal 49:1, pp. 193-215. Retrieved February
28, 2013 http://www.jstor.org/stable/4091745
 Donnelly, Jim (BBC). February 2011. The Irish
Famine. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victori
ans/famine_01.shtml

11.  Lim, Louisa (NPR). November 2012. A Grim
Chronicle Of China's Great Famine. Retrieved
February 28, 2013.
http://www.npr.org/2012/11/10/164732497/a-
grim-chronicle-of-chinas-great-famine
 Grada, Cormac. 2008. The ripple that drowns?
Twentieth-century famines in China and India as
economic history. The Economic History Review
61:s1 pp 5-37
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.proxy.lib.iastate.ed
u/doi/10.1111/j.1468-0289.2008.00435.x/pdf

12.  Fawkes, Helen (BBC). November 2006. Legacy
of famine divides Ukraine. Retrieved February
28, 2013
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6179818.
stm
 Kulchytsky, Stanislav (Kiev Day). February
2007. Holodomor of 1932-33 as genocide: gaps
in evidential basis. Retrieved February 28, 2013
http://www.day.kiev.ua/en/article/day-
after-day/holodomor-1932-33-genocide-gaps-
evidential-basis