Dan Maxwell recently discussed his book, Somalia Famine: Competing Imperatives, Collective Failures 2011-2012, on several occasions.  In his remarks at Tufts, he noted that “while Somalia may be considered old news, the fact that it took five years to dig through the literature of what happened and tell the story so we can learn from it is critical for people to understand. The famine was preventable.”

On April 22, 2016: Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy

On April 26, 2016: Kings College in London, UK

On April 27, 2016: Graduate Institute of Geneva, Switzerland

On May 2, 2016: Walter Rodney Seminar at Boston University

Dan coauthored the book with Nisar Majid. The book analyzes the famine, the humanitarian, and the community responses. It looks at the trade-offs between competing policy priorities that led to it, the collective failure in response, and how those affected by it attempted to protect themselves and their livelihoods. It pays particular attention to the hardest hit areas in south central Somalia that were under Al Shabaab control. International assistance was not able to reach some of the most affected areas, so people coped by relying on social networks and links to the diaspora and to urban business communities. Despite these efforts, these areas suffered the highest levels of mortality, livestock losses, and damage to livelihoods.

Watch the video abstract here.

It is available for purchase:

In the United States at Oxford University Press or Amazon

In the United Kingdom at Hurst Publishers