According to today's Times Online site, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has instructed the population of Iran to produce more babies with the goal of doubling the country's population to ensure its "dominance." However "voices of reason" may react to this with alarm (and however justified the alarm), we probably should recognize that this is not a new strategy. When I was working in Israel (1971-1973), while this was never articulated as government policy, just about anyone I spoke to voiced this strategy as an important element of patriotism. Even in Singapore, which prided itself on the diversity of its population, I encountered tacit injunctions to the Chinese population to make sure that their numbers would not begin to lag in the demographic statistics. Given the resources crises we face, there is, as I suggested, plenty of cause for alarm; but we also need to recognize that this "political weapon" ball has been rolling for some time.
Monday, June 22, 2009
October 23, 2006: Population Politics
According to today's Times Online site, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has instructed the population of Iran to produce more babies with the goal of doubling the country's population to ensure its "dominance." However "voices of reason" may react to this with alarm (and however justified the alarm), we probably should recognize that this is not a new strategy. When I was working in Israel (1971-1973), while this was never articulated as government policy, just about anyone I spoke to voiced this strategy as an important element of patriotism. Even in Singapore, which prided itself on the diversity of its population, I encountered tacit injunctions to the Chinese population to make sure that their numbers would not begin to lag in the demographic statistics. Given the resources crises we face, there is, as I suggested, plenty of cause for alarm; but we also need to recognize that this "political weapon" ball has been rolling for some time.
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