As of March 2026, this website is no longer being updated. I now work mainly on climate issues, especially in Brighton and Hove, and new work can be found on the website of Climate:Change, our independent think-tank on socially inclusive action in the City: www.climatechangebh.org.uk.
Meanwhile, however, this website has over 850 entries, mostly representing my work on international development from 2010-2025. Among much else, there are over 50 book reviews, more than 20 papers and training cases on bridging research and policy and on managing think-tanks, nearly 100 articles on climate change, and many papers on other topics, including aid, food security and nutrition, and the future of international development. See ‘Topics and Themes’ for more details. I can be reached at sm@simonmaxwell.net.
Food Security in Africa
Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa, ed with S. Devereux, ITDG Publishing, London, June 2001
Sub-Saharan Africa's persistent food insecurity and vulnerability to famine reflects failures of understanding as much as failures of interventions. "Food Security in sub-Saharan Africa" aims to contribute towards an improved understanding for more effective food security policy. This book brings together 11 substantial chapters on critical food security issues, and draws on a variety of disciplinary perspectives, from agricultural economics to nutrition. Most contributions reflect an evolution of thinking during the 1990s. Food insecurity is no longer seen simply as a problem of agriculture and a failure of food production at the national level, but instead as a failure of livelihoods to guarantee access to sufficient food at household level. This conceptual shift and related arguments are presented in a clear and accessible way for the non-specialist reader, and are illustrated with empirical data and case studies from across the sub-continent................. (see link in title to purchase book)