Food

Societies need food to function and to help their citizens reach their potential. People who are satiated are, in general, not only healthier than people who are hungry, but also happier. Healthier and happier people experience increased well-being, which benefits not only themselves and those around them, but also the societies in which they live1. In wartime, the food of a society or nation is no less important than it is in peacetime, for similar reasons of health and happiness. Without sufficient food, soldiers will not have enough energy to engage in battles and may develop distrust in their leaders. Civilians on the home front, like civilians in peacetime, require adequate food in quantity and quality to engage in critical work to support the economic production of their nations, which in turn is vital for any war effort. Adequate food is thus necessary for civilians to maintain a modicum of belief in their leaders. When governments break the unspoken contract of ensuring, whether through private or public means, that a significant proportion of their populations have enough to eat, not only are individual people more hungry and less happy, societies at large suffer, and the legitimacies of states are weakened. This legitimacy weakens as the duration and intensity of food insecurity increases.