We know there are a lot of links between a state's age structure and its behavior. Does this relationship extend to alliances? Along with Dr. TongFi Kim, I published an article in International Interactions showing that there is indeed a strong relationship. Youthful states are much more likely to abrogate alliances than states with older age structures.
Is Russia’s Older Population Driving Putin’s Aggression?
This summer I was part of an excellent special edition of International Area Studies Review journal focusing on population and politics. My contribution offered a counterintuitive argument: an older population might make a country more aggressive, not more passive. Here's the abstract: In May 2006, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia’s dire demographics were the… Continue reading Is Russia’s Older Population Driving Putin’s Aggression?
Why All This Talk about Elder Rights?
The second article of my global aging advocacy project is out now in the International Journal of Human Rights. The aged remain one of the few vulnerable groups without formalized protection in their own covenant. Attempts to secure a UN declaration on older persons’ rights in 1948, 1991, and 1999 failed to gain traction, but… Continue reading Why All This Talk about Elder Rights?
The Power of the Old Persons’ Lobby
My new article on global advocacy for older people is out in the journal Social Movement Studies. I hope this is the first of many articles on this fascinating topic. If we really expect that population aging will lead older people to take over politics, then shouldn't we already see the influence global advocacy groups?… Continue reading The Power of the Old Persons’ Lobby
Population and environmental security
Buy the book on Amazon Along with Geoffrey Dabelko and Carolyn Lamere (my former student!), I published a chapter in the excellent book, Environmental Security. We trace the evolution of population within the environmental security debate and provide what I hope is a great history and analysis of how it has fit in over the… Continue reading Population and environmental security
The Sun Hasn’t Set on China
See original post at HuffingtonPost.com Recent news of China’s economic slowdown has many American defense analysts predicting the end of the Chinese challenge to U.S. dominance in world affairs. These predictions are based, in part, on China’s rapid population aging and signs of internal political fissures, both of which call into question China’s ability to… Continue reading The Sun Hasn’t Set on China
Global threats exist, but also many demographic opportunities for the U.S.
See original post at HuffingtonPost.com Events like the Arab Spring gave birth to a generation of demographic converts in the national security community. Many are now convinced that demography matters because demographers today can clearly show how youthful population profiles in the developing world could lead to conflicts over the next 20 years — a… Continue reading Global threats exist, but also many demographic opportunities for the U.S.
Demography and instability in the developing world
I have a new article out in the Spring 2012 issue of Orbis journal. Here's the abstract: Demography provides a framework for analyzing the effect of population on national security and a tool to assess how demographic trends in the developing world will influence conflict over the next twenty years. Population is connected to national… Continue reading Demography and instability in the developing world
Is population aging really so bad?
I have a chapter in the excellent new edited book, Political Demography: Identity, Institutions, and Conflict. In it I argue that the absence of a theoretical framework within which to structure discussion of population aging has led scholars to underestimate the role of the state in mediating the effects of population. There are plentiful descriptions… Continue reading Is population aging really so bad?
