The World Food Programme in Global Politics

How has the World Food Programme come to be so well-regarded--even in the US--despite being part of the much-maligned UN system? What are the political and institutional conditions that have enabled it to accrue legitimacy as an international organization? And how much substance lies behind the perceptions of its effectiveness? Finding the answers to these questions in his analysis of the institutional politics of the WFP, Sandy Ross illustrates important larger issues about international institutions and global governance. He also shows that the very terms of its success limit the WFP's capacity to change the systemic problems that generate large-scale global hunger.