Notes on The Hungry World: America's Cold War Battle Against Poverty In Asia

Book Essentials

Book: The Hungry World: America's Cold War Battle Against Poverty In Asia
Author: Nick Cullather
Format: E-book
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Location: Cambridge, MA
Year: 2013
URL: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.31480
Accessed: 27 \text{ Aug } 2020
Downloaded on behalf of McGill University

Core Focus

The central focus is how American policy during the Cold War framed and used hunger relief and poverty alleviation in Asia as instruments of geopolitical strategy.

Scope and Approach

Scope: Asia during the Cold War; Approach: policy analysis of food aid, famine relief, and development programs as instruments of U.S. foreign policy.

Key Concepts

Cold War geopolitics; food aid and famine relief; development assistance; humanitarian rhetoric vs. strategic interests; U.S. foreign policy in Asia.

Significance for Study

Offers a reframing of humanitarian aid as a tool of geopolitics in Asia; highlights tensions between alleviating poverty and pursuing strategic aims; informs understanding of current aid practices.