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Abstract
This project addresses five key challenges to examining food insecurity. First, it offers a clearer definition of food insecurity than the ones currently offered, by including the four dimensions of food insecurity offered by the FAO availability, access, utilization, and stability as key aspects in the process by which food is produced until it is consumed. Second, this project creates five original measurements for food insecurity. One serves to capture the overall level of food insecurity in a given state in a given year, and the other four serves to capture the level of each of the four dimensions of food insecurity. These five measurements allow researcher to begin to take a more nuanced look at the different types of food insecurity that can occur. Third, this project situates the topic of food insecurity firmly within the field of international relations by studying how non-military threats to individual lives require a strong state response. Fourth, it offers theoretical explanations for when state leaders will choose to respond to food insecurity and which strategies they will choose. Finally, this project offers strong empirical support to these theoretical claims.