Geography of Population 5

1. Geography of Population 5 Policy

2. Why population policy? • Social organization • Complex society • High mobility • Gouverner c‘est prévoir – to govern means to look ahead

3. Types of population policy Population policy Natural change Migrations internal migration pro-natalistic anti-natalistic external migration promote distribution emigration immigration stop outmigration control, prohibit, promote

4. Promotion of births • Government estimates that population is too low • Government needs more taxpayers, electors, soldiers • Child allowances (progressive) • Rent subsidies for large families • Higher profile for families with many children • Prohibition of contraceptive methods (pill, condom, abortion)

5. Reducing births • Overpopulation (imbalance between population and resources) • Usually coercive measures: - One-child family policy (China) - Forced sterilization of women (India) • High profile of small family • Raising the minimum age of marriage • Regressive child allowances with family size

6. Are the poor responsible for the population explosion? ‘It is the poor, as a generality, who have the most children. And it is the poorest countries, as a generality, that have the highest birth rates.But it is a mistake to think that the poor have children mindlessly, or without purpose, or - in the light of their own personal value system - irresponsibly. Quite the contrary. The poor, by the very fact of their poverty, have little margin for error. The very precariousness of their existence habituates them to be cautious. They may be illiterate. They are seldom foolhardy. To survive at all they are forced to be shrewd... ...Poor people have large families for many reasons. But the point is they do have reasons. Reasons of security for their old age. Reasons about additional help on the land. Reasons concerning the cultural preference for sons. Reasons related to the laws of inheritance. Reasons dictated by traditional religious behaviour. And reasons of personal pride."

7. Interpretation and ideas • Quatation from R. McNamara, former president of the World Bank (and Secretary of Defence, USA) • Antinatalist policy has to consider the reasons McNamara quotes • To avoid antinatalist policy, social transformations are needed (improvement of women’s status, public social security systems, better distribution of resources and incomes, tax reforms, taking all people seriously)

8. All natalist policies ... • ... intervene with the ideas of the families about their size and their offspring • ... are finally coercive measures • ... tend to discriminate women (preferences for male children are still very widespread)

9. Migration policy Governments have always tried to influence migration for specific political reasons: • settlement of virgin regions (wetlands, forests) • - control over the arrival of non-nationals (or non-citizens) • - getting rid of unwanted groups (the poor, the landless, criminals)

10. Internal migration: reasons • Colonization (settled  unsettled ares) • Population redistribution (densely settled  loosely settled regions) • Prevention of rural exodus (rural develop-ment policy) • Directing rural to urban migration • Relieving congested cities (planning of New Towns)

11. Internal migration: framework • Internal migration takes place within a single legal system and can be rationally motivated • Usually, it concerns people without regard to nationality or origin • The policy measures are usually not coercive but operate with different attractions (land, grants, subsidies, tax relief etc.) to reach their aim

12. Emigration • Usually voluntary, at times promoted by the state (less hungry people to feed) • Reasons: political (attitudes), economic (living below the level of subsistence) • Deportation: forced emigration (foreign criminals, anarchists, people with non-conformist attitudes)

13. External migration: background • Concerns both ‘nationals‘ ( ‘citizens‘) and ‘non-nationals’ ( ‘non-citizens) • The state boundary can be used as a filter to prevent immigration • Part of ‘foreign policy’ of a country • Very much emotionally laden

14. Immigration • Sensitive domain for reasons of culture, identity, job competition, distribution of wealth, …) • The state can play its centripetal role (protection of the population and the economy from ‘ob-noxious’ outside influences) • The barrier role of the state boundary can be emphasized or downscaled

15. Labour market regulation Boom Economic policy Employment policy Integration policy Policy towards foreigners Asylum policy Humanitarian aid Relations between natives and foreigners Social peace The dilemma of immigration policy Economy Immigration Policy Society

16. Problems of immigration policy • It is not free from irrational and emotional nationalistic thinking • Immigration becomes a ‘hot’ political issue when the indigenous population sees its (material) welfare threatened • Under such conditions, culture and identity are often used as pretexts to justify strict immigration control and limitations • Right wing politicians kindle the fear of excessive foreign influence (populism)