Description
The last hundred years have witnessed the ongoing decline of Europe’s population and the explosion of Africa’s, major changes in migratory flows, significant variations in fertility levels across different countries and ethnic groups and the dizzying growth of large metropolises. These changes alter and sometimes disrupt relations between societies, states and regions of the world and influence political choices, with variable and often unpredictable force and speed. Past and current crises, such as the difficulties faced by governments seeking to control immigration and to manage tensions between religious and ethnic communities, now appear as the inevitable consequence of these demographic changes.
Geodemography – the study of how population dynamics influence societies, states and regions and affect the relations between them, over time and throughout the world – can help us to understand these trends. Using a broad repertoire of exemplary cases drawn from recent world history, this book demonstrates that geodemography is an invaluable tool for gaining a deeper appreciation of the changing relations between societies and states and the great challenges we face today.
Table of Contents
A note from the author
Foreword
Chapter One
A brief portrait of the world population
Chapter Two
Limits, boundaries, borders
Chapter Three
Ethnicities
Chapter Four
Migration as a weapon
Chapter Five
A case study: Palestine and Israel
Chapter Six
Within the state: capitals and territory
Chapter Seven
Geodemography and religion
Chapter Eight
Environment, climate, water
Conclusion
The world of the future: the known and the unknown
Appendix
World population, 1700-2100
Notes
Index
