Famine in North Korea

Markets, Aid, and Reform

Stephan Haggard, Marcus Noland, Amartya Sen, FBA

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English

Columbia University Press
12 May 2009

History; Famine; Aid & relief programmes

In the mid-1990s, as many as one million North Koreans died in one of the worst famines of the twentieth century. The socialist food distribution system collapsed primarily because of a misguided push for self-reliance, but was compounded by the regime's failure to formulate a quick response-including the blocking of desperately needed humanitarian relief.

As households, enterprises, local party organs, and military units tried to cope with the economic collapse, a grassroots process of marketization took root. However, rather than embracing these changes, the North Korean regime opted for tentative economic reforms with ambiguous benefits and a self-destructive foreign policy. As a result, a chronic food shortage continues to plague North Korea today.

In their carefully researched book, Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland present the most comprehensive and penetrating account of the famine to date, examining not only the origins and aftermath of the crisis but also the regime's response to outside aid and the effect of its current policies on the country's economic future. Their study begins by considering the root causes of the famine, weighing the effects of the decline in the availability of food against its poor distribution. Then it takes a close look at the aid effort, addressing the difficulty of monitoring assistance within the country, and concludes with an analysis of current economic reforms and strategies of engagement.

North Korea's famine exemplified the depredations that can arise from tyrannical rule and the dilemmas such regimes pose for the humanitarian community, as well as the obstacles inherent in achieving economic and political reform. To reveal the state's culpability in this tragic event is a vital project of historical recovery, one that is especially critical in light of our current engagement with the ""North Korean question.""

By: Stephan Haggard, Marcus Noland
Foreword by: Amartya Sen FBA
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 440g
ISBN: 9780231140010
ISBN 10: 0231140010
Pages: 368
Publication Date: 12 May 2009
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Stephan Haggard is the Lawrence and Sallye Krause Professor at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of Pathways from the Periphery; The Political Economy of Democratic Transitions (with Robert Kaufman); and The Political Economy of the Asian Financial Crisis.Marcus Noland is a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a senior fellow at the East-West Center. He has served as an occasional consultant to such organizations as the World Bank and the National Intelligence Council.

Reviews for Famine in North Korea: Markets, Aid, and Reform

A rigorous study. -- Anna Fifield * Financial Times * This book belongs on the list of required reading. -- Claudia Rosett * New York Sun * This is a haunting, exasperating, sobering look at an ongoing tragedy. -- Terry Hong * The Bloomsbury Review * The quality of analysis and prose is consistently high throughout. -- Brian Myers * Acta Koreana * A comprehensive and penetrating account. * Swarthmore College Bulletin * A readable, well-researched, and insightful analysis... Highly recommended. * Choice * Famine in North Korea: Markets, Aid, and Reform offers a systematic bird's eye view of the fundamental causes and consequences of North Korea's famine. -- Chung Min Lee * Asia Policy * Backed by data treated with appropriate caution, Haggard and Noland cogently present the sad North Korean story... [An] impressive work. * The Lancet * Famine in North Korea is as good as the best of its genre. -- Raghav Gaiha * Development and Change * [An] essential book. -- Stephen Devereux * Journal of Economic Literature * This book will be of interest to those in the Korean studies field as well as among humanitarian and public policy circles -- Suzy Kim * The Journal of Asian Studies *