Aligning policies, maintaining power: State-society conflicts and state responses to food crises in Indonesia and Nigeria

Abstract

Despite the importance of food for both economic and political reasons, why do governments respond differently to food crises? To answer this question, this article assesses the politics of state responses to food crises in Indonesia and Nigeria in the 1960s and 1970s. Using the state-in-society approach to politics, this research finds that variation in state–society conflicts explains the differences in Indonesia's and Nigeria's responses to the food crises. Conflicts between the state and urban workers led Nigeria to align its food policies with the need to contain urban workers' grievances, while in Indonesia conflicts between peasants and the state led the government to align its food policies with rural development to raise food production and eliminate the source of rural threats. State responses to food crises are therefore context-dependent policies, deeply influenced by the salient form of state–society conflicts.