Hall-Matthews D
St Antony's College, Oxford.
Disasters. 1996 Sep;20(3):216-30. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7717.1996.tb01035.x.
The principles upon which famine policies are based have changed less than might be expected over the last century. This paper examines the origins of the Indian Famine Codes of the 1880s, which set the administrative and, it is argued, paradigmatic precedent for famine relief in 'developing' countries, managed by 'developed' ones. In particular, the still-current questions of avoiding the creation of dependency through over-generous aid and of relying on free-market solutions to the problems of food distribution are re-examined. Although both of these issues are difficult, it is suggested that strong emphasis on their importance has historically been based on wilful misinterpretation of complex situations. The result has been famine relief programmes which served the interests of 'relievers' (in this case the colonial state) more than the relieved. The nature of famine policy-making is thus reconsidered, with a call for greater appreciation of the role of influential individuals and hidden state agendas. These are as significant today as ever.
在过去的一个世纪里，饥荒政策所基于的原则变化程度比预期的要小。本文考察了19世纪80年代印度饥荒法典的起源，该法典为“发展中”国家由“发达”国家管理的饥荒救济设定了行政方面的，有人认为也是范例性的先例。特别是，对于通过过度慷慨的援助避免造成依赖以及依靠自由市场解决粮食分配问题这些仍然存在的问题进行了重新审视。尽管这两个问题都很棘手，但有人认为，历史上对它们重要性的强烈强调是基于对复杂情况的蓄意误解。结果是饥荒救济计划更多地服务于“救济者”（在这种情况下是殖民国家）的利益，而非受救济者的利益。因此，对饥荒政策制定的性质进行了重新思考，呼吁人们更多地认识到有影响力的个人和隐藏的国家议程所起的作用。这些在今天和以往一样重要。
