Matthew Day
This paper explores Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM) as an analytical approach for understanding famine as a complex, dynamic system. Traditional approaches, such as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), may not fully capture the non-linear interactions among social, economic, political, and environmental factors that contribute to famine. The IPC relies heavily on cross-sectional survey data and expert judgment, which can introduce errors and biases. This study applies FCM to a retrospective case study of the 2017 Ayod County crisis in South Sudan. FCM combines qualitative and quantitative data, facilitating analysis of dynamic systems even with limited data availability. The findings indicate that FCM identified famine-like conditions from March to June 2017, aligning with subsequent survey data, although Ayod was never formally classified in famine by the IPC. Continued testing of FCM is recommended to assess its suitability as part of a revised analytical toolkit for near-real-time famine risk tracking.