Abstract
Politics in general, as well as world politics, is a branch of engineering — social engineering — not of science. Yet the consideration of the demographic aspects of world politics is not an inappropriate subject to be treated in this book. It is the purpose of this chapter to point to ways in which the findings of the science of demography illuminate various aspects of the world political scene.
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References and Notes
Determinants and Consequences of Population Trends (United Nations, New York, 1953), chap. 2.
See the objection to this phrase in “Statement by Roman Catholic bishops of U.S. on birth control,” New York Times (26 Nov. 1959).
H. Brown, The Challenge of Man’s Future (Viking, New York, 1954).
The Future Growth of World Population (United Nations, New York, 1958).
This fact was ignored by Roman Catholic bishops [see New York Times (26 Nov. 1959)] and by the Pope [see “Pope denounces birth limitation,” New York Times (15 Dec. 1959)].
The impracticability of colonizing other planets is considered by G. Hardin [J. Heredity 50, 2 (1959)].
W. H. Leonard, Sci. Monthly 85, 113 (1957).
“National and Per Capita Income of 70 Countries in 1949,” U.N. Statist. Papers, Ser. E, No. 1 (United Nations, New York, 1950).
The calculations were made by using United Nations per capita income figures for each continent applied to revised United Nations estimates of 1950 population of continents to obtain revised aggregate income by continent and for the world, as shown in Table I. A new world per capita figure of $223 was obtained, ás compared with the published figure of $230.
For the Communist position see F. Lorimer, “Population policies and politics in the Communist world,” in Population and World Politics, P. M. Hauser, Ed. (Free Press. Glencoe, Ill., 1958); for the Catholic position see “Pope denounces birth limitation,” New York Times (15 Dec. 1959); for the Socialist position, see J. D. Bernal, “Population growth is no threat for a free society,” Natl. Guardian (7 Dec. 1959) (extract from J. D. Bernal, Science in History).
W. S. Woytinsky & E. S. Woytinsky. World Population and Production (Twentieth Century Fund, New York, 1953).
S. Kuznets, “Regional economic trends and levels of living,” in Population and World Politics, P. M. Hauser, Ed. (Free Press, Glencoe, Ill., 1958).
Report on International Definition and Measurement of Standards and Levels of Living (United Nations, New York, 1954).
Note the different definitions of area in Tables I and II. In Table II, which gives population projections to 1975 and 2000, “Northern America” includes only North America north of the Rio Grande; “Latin America” includes South America, Central America and North America south of the Rio Grande. For the rough comparisons made, no adjustment of the data was necessary.
Calculations were based on revised data, as explained in (9). For Latin America the calculations were based on a comparison of estimated aggregate income for “Latin America” in 1950, per capita income for “South America” being used.
The “population problem” differs for areas with different ratios of population to resources; for example, see Political and Economic Planning, World Population and Resources (Essential Books, Fairlawn, N.J., 1955).
P. M. Hauser, “World and urbanization in relation to economic development and social change,” in Urbanization in Asia and Far East (UNESCO, Calcutta, 1957), p. 57, based on work of K. Davis and H. Hertz.
—, “Implications of population trends for regional and urban planning in Asia,” UNESCO Working Paper No. 2, U.N. Seminar on Regional Planning, Tokyo, Japan (1958).
—, Ed., “Urbanization in Latin America” (UNESCO, New York, in press).
“The Population of South Asia (Including Ceylon and China: Taiwan) 1950–1980,” U.N. Kept. No. 3 on Future Population Estimates by Sex and Age (United Nations, New York, 1958).
W. S. Thompson, Population and Progress in the Far East (Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1959).
I. B. Taeuber, “Population and political instabilities in underdeveloped areas,” in Population and World Politics, P. M. Hauser, Ed. (Free Press, Glencoe, Ill., 1958).
“The Population of Central America (Including Mexico), 1950–1980,” U.N. Kept. No. 1 on Future Population Estimates by Sex and Age (United Nations, New York, 1954); “The Population of South America, 1950–1980,” U.N. Kept. No. 2 on Future Population Estimates by Sex and Age (United Nations, New York, 1955).
“Demographic aspects of urbanization in Latin America,” UNESCO Seminar on Urbanization Problems in Latin America, Santiago, Chile (1959).
Social Implications of Industrialization in Africa South of the Sahara (UNESCO, London, 1956).
K. Davis, “Population and power in the free world,” in Population and World Politics, P. M. Hauser, Ed. (Free Press, Glencoe, Ill., 1958).
W. Lippmann, “China is No. 1 problem,” Chicago Sun-Times (14 Dec. 1959); “To live India must change its way of life....,” Chicago Sun Times (15 Dec. 1959).
Nor is population a factor in political instability only in the underdeveloped areas. There are many other demographic dimensions of world politics which cannot be treated here because of limitations of space. The authors of a recent symposium volume which it was my privilege to edit include further considerations of population as a factor in world politics. Especially pertinent are the articles by Kingsley Davis, Frank Lorimer, Irene Taeuber, and Quincy Wright, from which I have drawn material for this discussion.
“Japan’s population miracle,” Population Bull. 15, No. 7 (1959); “The race between people and resources — in the ECAFE region,” pt. 1, Population Bull. 15, No. 5, 89 (1959).
Asia and the Far East, Seminar on Population (United Nations, New York, 1957).
E. W. Notestein, “Knowledge, action, people,” University — A Princeton magazine, No. 2 (1959); P. Streit and P. Streit, “New light on India’s worry,” New York Times Magazine (13 Mar. 1960).
See, for example, G. Pincus et al., Science 130, 81 (1959); —, “Field Trials with Norethynodrel as an Oral Contraceptive” (Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology, Shrewsbury, Mass., in preparation).
Data are based on the following: J. J. Spengler, Proc. Am. Phil. Soc. 95, 53 (1951); original data (for 1937) from “Energy Resources of the World,” U.S. Dept. State Publ. (Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1949), p. 102 ff.
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Hauser, P.M. (1964). Demographic Dimensions of World Politics. In: Mudd, S. (eds) The Population Crisis and the Use of World Resources. World Academy of Art and Science, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-5910-6_9
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