Chapter 3


 Box 3.4 The Moral Economy in Bengal, India

 In Bengal there are three types of relationship relevant to the Indian peasant. The loosest of these is the hat
 or market relationship, such as fishing and agricultural labour. A stronger link is the nagat, which
 describes a relationship such as share-cropping, where there are not long-term relationships and the parties
 may not be closely identified with each other. The strongest relationship of all, outside direct family ties,
 is the dhara, which represents an enduring bond, which may have come down through several generations,
 between a landowner and his various client households, such as priests, barbers and washermen. In times
 of stress, it is the dhara relationship which may enhance the food entitlement of client families with this
 kind of link to a landowning family.

 Source:from Greenough, Indian Famines and Peasant Victims, Modern Asian Studies, 1980


 It is important to keep these other types of food entitlement in mind when assessing the
 nature of food security problems in a society. For the most vulnerable, non-market
 institutions may be critical in determining survival, particularly in times of crisis. They can
 mitigate the effects of the market on those who have little purchase or labour power. They
 can also make a considerable difference in the way the benefits from the food chain are
 distributed. Unfortunately, in many countries emergent markets are reducing the incidence
 and effectiveness of non-market mechanisms, as societies become more monetised and
1 communal rights are increasingly privatised by the rich and affluent.

 Non-market institutions are not just important in the local and national economy, but also in
 the international sphere. The GATT negotiations discussed in section 2 above are a major
 example of the recognition of the need for collective action to improve trade regulations.
 Any individual country may stand to lose by removing trade barriers unilaterally, but if
 enough countries do this at the same time, then they can, in theory, all benefit. Equally
 conferences such as those on the law of the sea, and the Rio conference on the environment
 are acknowledgement of the need for collective institutions to supplement the operation of
 the market.

 3.2 The role of the state

 In one sense the state has a privileged position in the institutional framework, in the sense
 that it has the power to change institutions, i.e. the rules of the game. Most countries have
 some form of constitutional division between the judiciary and the executive, but this is not a
 perfect division and there is usually some way for the executive to modify the legal structure
 within which the judiciary operates.

 In the 1990s, the power of the nation state is rather more limited than in previous centuries
 because of the role of international finance. Many countries, particularly in the developing
 world, rely on access to overseas capital, both private and public sector, to finance their
 development programmes and their recurrent expenditure requirements. Thus they are
 constrained to follow policies and develop institutions which make them creditworthy in the
 eyes of either private capital or foreign aid donors.


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