State Capability and Challenges to Russia’s Food Security in the Twenty-first Century

Stephen K. Wegren is University Distinguished Professor and Professor of Political Science at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA. He has published extensively on the political economy of Russia. His most recent books were an edited book titled Russia’s Role in the Contemporary International Agri-Food Trade System (2022) and Russia’s Food Revolution (2021).

• Introduction. Thinking about Food Security 1. An Overview of Russian Food Security 2. The Challenges from Climate Change 3. The Challenges from Production Narrownes 4. The Challenges from Marginal Agricultural Areas 5. The Challenges from Unsafe Food 6. The Challenges from Geopolitics Conclusion. Summing Up

"Two macro global trends have emerged in the past quarter century. First, Russia’s importance to global food security has become more prominent. Second, authoritarian regimes increasingly base their legitimacy on domestic food security. Wegren’s timely book merges analyses of these two trends. His compelling analysis surveys several crucial challenges confronting Russia’s food security and assesses state capability to meet myriad challenges, ranging from global heating which influences Russia’s agrifood production, to food safety, to current global tensions that show little signs of alleviation. With its clear and crisp writing, the reader is sure to benefit. Highly recommended. "- Frode Nilssen, Professor, The Arctic University of Norway, Norwegian College of Fishery Science"This new book from Stephen Wegren, the West’s leading authority on Russian agricultural and food policy, is his best one yet. He broadens his inquiry to include the many key elements that enter into the production of agriculture and food everywhere, but especially in Russia—climate change, the unpredictable bureaucratic structures, the supply chains connecting the farm to the retail store, the diversity of natural conditions in a country that spans 11 time zones, the neglected area of food safety, and capping it all, the challenges from geopolitics. Food security and food exports are thus the outcomes of a whole system, which Wegren take us through, surely and admirably. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand Russa’s role in the world’s food supply. Strongly recommended. "- Thane Gustafson, Professor of Government, Georgetown University