A provocative description of the power of population change to create the conditions for societal transformation.As the world nears 8 billion people, the countries that have led the global order since World War II are becoming the most aged societies in human history. At the same time, the world’s poorest and least powerful countries are suffocating under an imbalance of population and resources. In 8 Billion and Counting, political demographer Jennifer D....

Population politics has taken many forms throughout history. Political leaders from both democracies and non-democracies commonly place population issues at the center of their political programs, manufacturing alarm over changing demographic distributions. From fears of existential decline to debates over migration and fertility, demographic issues are often distorted by political ideologies that obscure understanding and fuel divisive narratives. In Toxic Demography, Jennifer D....

A provocative description of the power of population change to create the conditions for societal transformationAs the world nears eight billion people, the countries that have led the global order since World War II are becoming the most aged societies in human history. At the same time, the world’s poorest and least powerful countries are suffocating under an imbalance of population and resources. In 8 Billion and Counting, political demographer Jennifer...

From the authors of the bestselling The Big Shift, a provocative argument that the global population will soon begin to decline, dramatically reshaping the social, political, and economic landscape.For half a century, statisticians, pundits, and politicians have warned that a burgeoning population will soon overwhelm the earth’s resources. But a growing number of experts are sounding a different alarm. Rather than continuing to increase exponentially, they...

The twenty-first century has seen a rise in the global middle class that brings an unprecedented convergence of interests and perceptions, cultures and values. Kishore Mahbubani is optimistic. We are creating a new global civilization. Eighty-eight percent of the world's population outside the West is rising to Western living standards, and sharing Western aspirations. Yet Mahbubani, one of the most perceptive global commentators, also warns that a new global order needs new policies and a...

"A neatly structured survey examines the prospects for universal democracy. . . . A refreshingly evenhanded overview of democracy's global prospects." — Kirkus Reviews"Meticulous [and] gleaned from his experience . . . Diamond is at his best when he recounts how ordinary people affect the democratic process." — The New York Times Book ReviewIn 1974, nearly three-quarters of all countries were dictatorships: today, more than ...

What do we mean by development? How can citizens, governments and the international community foster development? The process by which nations escape poverty and achieve economic and social progress has been the subject of extensive examination for hundreds of years.The notion of development itself has evolved from an original preoccupation with incomes and economic growth to a much broader understanding of development. In this Very Short Introduction Ian Goldin considers the cont...

A bold and thought-provoking look at the future of U.S.-China relations, and how their coming power struggle will reshape the competitive playing field for nations around the worldThe Cold War seemingly ended in a decisive victory for the West. But now, Noah Feldman argues, we are entering an era of renewed global struggle: the era of Cool War. Just as the Cold War matched the planet’s reigning superpowers in a contest for geopolitical supremacy, so this new age wi...

The US has historically disguised – to itself and to others – the true nature of its relations with those nations that stood in the way of its ambitions. Reversing the order of cause and effect, it has projected fear of harm from other nations even as it was expanding its dominion over them. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was so to be feared that the American people could even be told they would be “better dead than Red”, the US rejoiced in the belief that the world was at la...

This fourth edition of David P. Forsythe's successful textbook provides an authoritative and timely analysis of the place of human rights in an age of upheaval in international politics. Human rights standards are examined at the global, regional and national levels, with separate chapters on transnational corporations and advocacy groups. Completely updated and revised, the fourth edition takes account of new sources and recent scholarship, as well as recent events, such as the Syrian war...

This open access book consists of essays written by Kishore Mahbubani to explore the challenges and dilemmas faced by the West and Asia in an increasingly interdependent world village and intensifying geopolitical competition.The contents cover four parts: Part One The End of the Era of Western Domination. The major strategic error that the West is now making is to refuse to accept this reality. The West needs to learn how to act strategically in a world where they are no longer th...

When House Speaker Paul Ryan urged U.S. women to have more children, and Ross Douthat requested “More babies, please,” in a New York Times column, they openly expressed what policymakers have been discussing for decades with greater discretion. Using technical language like “age structure,” “dependency ratio,” and “entitlement crisis,” establishment think tanks are raising the alarm: if U.S. women don’t get busy having more children, we’ll face an aging workforce, slack consumer d...