Chapter 01: Introduction: Rethinking Food Security Policy in Developing Economies: Why Now, Why Differently? Why now, why differently?

This Introduction frames a twenty-three-chapter edited volume that asks why food insecurity persists in developing economies despite decades of sustained investment in agriculture, nutrition programs, and social protection. The chapters collectively argue that the root cause is not insufficient food production but a deficit of governance: weak institutions, misaligned political incentives, fragmented decentralization, regressive subsidy regimes, undervalued marine food systems, poorly managed market chains, and inadequate policy learning mechanisms. The Introduction articulates the volume's central argument, identifies the unifying analytical thread that runs across all chapters, situates the book in relation to existing literature, and poses twenty-one organizing questions, one drawn from each chapter, that the volume seeks to answer. A chapter roadmap guides the reader through the book's four-part structure: foundational context, institutional and political economy critique, case studies and domain-specific analyses, and forward-looking policy and governance frameworks.