Towards an Understanding of the Politics of Population Control PDF Download

Author: Lori Nan Silverberg
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Birth control
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Author: Betsy Hartmann
Publisher: Haymarket Books
ISBN: 1608467341
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
“Those involved in women’s health issues, Third World studies, and economic development should find food for thought” (Kirkus Reviews). This is an updated edition of the “influential study” (Publishers Weekly) of issues surrounding childbirth and the history of population control programs. Challenging conventional wisdom about overpopulation, and uncovering the deeper roots of poverty, environmental degradation, and gender inequalities, the author uses data and vivid case studies to explore how population control programs came to be promoted by powerful governments, foundations, and international agencies as an instrument of Cold War development and security policy. Mainly targeting poor women, these programs were designed to drive down birth rates as rapidly and cheaply as possible, with coercion often a matter of course. In the war on population growth, birth control was deployed as a weapon, rather than a tool of reproductive choice. Threaded throughout is the story of how international women’s health activists fought to reform population control and promote a new agenda of sexual and reproductive health and rights for all. While their efforts bore fruit, obstacles remain. On one side is the anti-choice movement that wants to deny women access not only to abortion but to most methods of contraception. On the other is a resurgent, well-funded population control lobby that often obscures its motives with the language of women’s empowerment. Despite declining birth rates worldwide—average global family size is now 2.5 children—overpopulation alarm is on the rise, tied now to the threats of climate change and terrorism. Reproductive Rights and Wrongs reveals how these developments are rooted in the longer history and politics of population control. In this book, a new generation of readers will find knowledge and inspiration for the ongoing struggle to achieve reproductive rights and social, environmental, and gender justice.

Author: Thomas B Littlewood
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780268015329
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Author: Matthew Connelly
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 067426276X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 538

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Book Description
Fatal Misconception is the disturbing story of our quest to remake humanity by policing national borders and breeding better people. As the population of the world doubled once, and then again, well-meaning people concluded that only population control could preserve the “quality of life.” This movement eventually spanned the globe and carried out a series of astonishing experiments, from banning Asian immigration to paying poor people to be sterilized. Supported by affluent countries, foundations, and non-governmental organizations, the population control movement experimented with ways to limit population growth. But it had to contend with the Catholic Church’s ban on contraception and nationalist leaders who warned of “race suicide.” The ensuing struggle caused untold suffering for those caught in the middle—particularly women and children. It culminated in the horrors of sterilization camps in India and the one-child policy in China. Matthew Connelly offers the first global history of a movement that changed how people regard their children and ultimately the face of humankind. It was the most ambitious social engineering project of the twentieth century, one that continues to alarm the global community. Though promoted as a way to lift people out of poverty—perhaps even to save the earth—family planning became a means to plan other people‘s families. With its transnational scope and exhaustive research into such archives as Planned Parenthood and the newly opened Vatican Secret Archives, Connelly’s withering critique uncovers the cost inflicted by a humanitarian movement gone terribly awry and urges renewed commitment to the reproductive rights of all people.

Author: Kathleen A. Tobin
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313059675
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
What is population history about? It's about birth rates, migration, and economies. It's about families, women, and babies. It is about agricultural production, military conflict, colonies, and race. In short, population history is the human story. This book shows that population issues—numbers of people, how to feed them, their employment, racial makeup, intelligence, health, sexual behavior, and reproduction—have concerned authorities for centuries. The primary documents in this volume illustrate those concerns from the mid-18th century to the present. Provided is background information on each document and coverage of a variety of population perspectives. All of the concerns illustrated in this volume have helped to mold population policy. From the threat of a population explosion, familiar to those growing up in the 1960s, to birth control, women's rights, and lawmakers' desires to address social ills, this book covers a wide spectrum of issues. Included is a variety of documents, such as treatises, essays, speeches, articles, and passages from books. Tobin's introductory commentary provides a framework for the documents, pointing to their intent and significance. This is the only comprehensive source of documents on population, making it a valuable resource for both professional and armchair historians.

Author: William Petersen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Acculturation
Languages : en
Pages : 374

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Author: Jack A. Goldstone
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199945969
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
The field of political demography - the politics of population change - is dramatically underrepresented in political science. At a time when demographic changes - aging in the rich world, youth bulges in the developing world, ethnic and religious shifts, migration, and urbanization - are waxing as never before, this neglect is especially glaring and starkly contrasts with the enormous interest coming from policymakers and the media. "Ten years ago, [demography] was hardly on the radar screen," remarks Richard Jackson and Neil Howe of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, two contributors to this volume. "Today," they continue, "it dominates almost any discussion of America's long-term fiscal, economic, or foreign-policy direction." Demography is the most predictable of the social sciences: children born in the last five years will be the new workers, voters, soldiers, and potential insurgents of 2025 and the political elites of the 2050s. Whether in the West or the developing world, political scientists urgently need to understand the tectonics of demography in order to grasp the full context of today's political developments. This book begins to fill the gap from a global and historical perspective and with the hope that scholars and policymakers will take its insights on board to develop enlightened policies for our collective future.

Author: Paul R. Ehrlich
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781568495873
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Author: Thomas M. Shapiro
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description

Author: Diana Coole
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1509523448
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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Book Description
By 2100, the human population may exceed 11 billion. Having recently surpassed 7.5 billion, it has trebled since 1950. Are such numbers sustainable, given a deepening environmental crisis? Can so many live well? Or should world population be controlled? The population question, one of the twentieth century’s most bitterly contested issues, is being debated once again. In this compelling book, Diana Coole examines some of the profound political and ethical questions involved. Are ethical objections to government interference with individuals’ reproductive freedom definitive? Is it possible to limit population in a non-coercive way that is consistent with liberal-democratic values? Interweaving erudite original analysis with an accessible overview of the crucial debates, Coole argues that a case can be made for reducing our numbers in ways that are compatible with human rights. This book will be essential reading for anyone interested in one of the most important questions facing our planet, from concerned citizens to students of politics, sociology, political economy, gender studies and environmental studies.