U.S. Defense Policymakers Should Focus on Demography, Says Expert
FEBRUARY 2009—New ECSP Report Article Names Four Trends to Watch: Youthful Populations, Changes in Military Personnel, International Migration, and Urbanization
U.S. defense policymakers should closely watch four demographic trends, says Jennifer Dabbs Sciubba in her new article, "Population in Defense Policy Planning":
"The military does not always have the tools to address these population and development issues, but by drawing on a wider community for support, they lessen the chances that they will have to deal with the consequences," she argues in the 13th issue of the Environmental Change & Security Program Report.
"Demography will have a greater role in defense planning in the future," Sciubba says in a short video preview now playing on ECSP's YouTube channel. "Robert Gates has put a lot of emphasis on development as a key to peace, and Africa Command may be the area that brings together issues of demography, the environment, and development, and sends those observations back up the higher levels at DOD," she observes.
Sciubba, Mellon Environmental Fellow in the Department of International Studies at Rhodes College, and six other demographic experts analyze the links connecting population and environmental dynamics to conflict in a set of commentaries on "New Directions in Demographic Security."
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Environmental Change and Security Program
The Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP) explores the connections between environmental change, health, and population dynamics and their links to conflict, human insecurity, and foreign policy. Read more
