Hungry for Trade: How the Poor Pay for Free Trade

Global Issues Series

by John Madeley

As the fallout from the Seattle meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) continues, John Madeley explores some key questions about the free trade that it

Will free trade in food help or hinder the abolition of world hunger?
Who benefits first? The poor? Or the transnational corporations?
Will free trade help Third World farmers find new international markets?
How can countries - North and South, rich and poor - protect their farmers?
How can self-sufficiency in food production be achieved?

His book exposes the contradiction between Western governments' rhetoric about reducing world poverty and the drive to yet more trade liberalization.

Genres: Politics

192 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

About the author

John Madeley has been a writer and broadcaster specializing in Third World development and environmental issues for the past twenty years. From 1983 to 1998, he was Editor of the renowned magazine, International Agricultural Development. A contributor to leading British papers including the Observer, the Guardian, and the Financial Times, he has also written for many voluntary organizations including Christian Aid, CAFOD, the Catholic Institute for International Relations, the Panos Institute, and the Swedish-based Forum Syd. He is the author of several books:

* When Aid is No Help: How Projects Fail and How They Could Succeed
* Trade and the Poor: The Impact of International Trade on Developing Countries
* Land is Life: Land Reform and Sustainable Agriculture (co-editor)
* Big Business, Poor Peoples: The Impact of Transnational Corporations on the World's Poor
* Hungry for Trade: How the Poor Pay for Free Trade.

Reviews

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

"How the Poor Pay for Free Trade" is the subtitle, and I expected the book to show me, but it does not. It fails out of the beginning when it does not care to define the central terms. Who are "the poor"? What is meant by "Free Trade"? Obviously, the book is inconsistent with both and cherrypicks examples to justify the claims. It does seem professionally written, but not based on principles, only on current political climate and overall dealings with power around the issues. One example is the issue with countries subsidizing trade goods, and the solution put forth is not that subsidizing is bad, but the traders of subsidized foods should be punished. It's upside down. Subsidies are diametrically opposite the idea of "free trade" but the author does not see it. The major laughing point is when he promotes Cuba as a good example, how they went back from tractors to breeding cattle. That is upside down. However, the good with the book is that you get an overview over some of the politics and issues surrounding trade. For me, it seems, the issue is not "free trade" - it should be freer, but it involves that countries have to be more capitalist as well! That is something the author refuses to even nudge at.

[Marianne ••• · Rating 5 out of 5]

Très intéressant et instructif.
Je le recommande fortement !