Virtual water, international relations and the new geopolitics of food

Abstract

Food security and virtual water considerations interact in a corporatized third food regime, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the world’s largest grain importing region. Globalization has created asymmetric trade interdependence that can be weaponized by states that control global economic hubs, yet countries in the Global South have actively exploited the rivalries of big powers, temporarily capturing chokepoints and entering new alignments. The virtual water paradigm that Tony Allan first coined can be applied creatively to international relations that are increasingly characterized by ‘weaponized interdependence’.