Population growth, reproductive health and reproductive rights are amongst the most pressing issues facing governments and the international community. Since the world's governments agreed for the first time on far-reaching and enlightened population policies at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, a good deal of progress has been made on these issues, but major challenges remain. This fully updated edition of Creating a New Consensus on Population charts international progress on efforts to address population and development, reproductive health, reproductive rights, religion, contraception and the empowerment of women. Historical coverage includes the lead up process to the ICPD, the conference itself and the global consensus and the ICPD Programme of Action that resulted. The book then turns to how population issues have developed over the past decade and a half including follow-up and implementation at the international level by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and other UN agencies and organizations. Key international events are covered including the 1999 ICPD+5, Millennium Summit 2000, ICPD+10 and the 2005 MDG+5 as well as relevant regional events. The book also examines the reorientation of policies and programmes and implementation at national levels across the world. Crucially, it looks at emerging issues and partnerships including the increasing role of NGOs, women's groups, youth groups, foundations, public-private partnerships and other non-state stakeholders. Written by Jyoti Shankar Singh, former ICPD Executive Coordinator, this is the definitive account of how the international community has engaged with population issues and policies and it offers insight into both the ongoing challenges as well as how an international consensus can be forged on crucial global issues. It is essential reading for all those involved in population, health and development issues and policies world-wide.

There is long-standing debate on how population growth affects national economies. A new report from Population Matters examines the history of this debate and synthesizes current research on the topic. The authors, led by Harvard economist David Bloom, conclude that population age structure, more than size or growth per se, affects economic development, and that reducing high fertility can create opportunities for economic growth if the right kinds of educational, health, and labor-market policies are in place. The report also examines specific regions of the world and how their differing policy environments have affected the relationship between population change and economic development.

The anthrax incidents following the 9/11 terrorist attacks put the spotlight on the nation's public health agencies, placing it under an unprecedented scrutiny that added new dimensions to the complex issues considered in this report. The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century reaffirms the vision of Healthy People 2010, and outlines a systems approach to assuring the nation's health in practice, research, and policy. This approach focuses on joining the unique resources and perspectives of diverse sectors and entities and challenges these groups to work in a concerted, strategic way to promote and protect the public's health. Focusing on diverse partnerships as the framework for public health, the book discusses: The need for a shift from an individual to a population-based approach in practice, research, policy, and community engagement. The status of the governmental public health infrastructure and what needs to be improved, including its interface with the health care delivery system. The roles nongovernment actors, such as academia, business, local communities and the media can play in creating a healthy nation. Providing an accessible analysis, this book will be important to public health policy-makers and practitioners, business and community leaders, health advocates, educators and journalists.

On the world stage, the Holy See acts as both a religious and a political actor. As the head of over 1.2 billion Catholics, the pope is a widely recognized spiritual authority. Politically, the Holy See maintains diplomatic relations with other states and actively participates in international organizations such as the United Nations. A Living Tradition examines the normative sources and the dilemmas underpinning papal diplomacy. It does so in the context of four diverse case studies: the Vietnam War, John Paul II and Poland, the United Nations conferences in Cairo and Beijing, and the global campaign for debt relief. While Catholic Social Doctrine offers a principled basis for Holy See diplomacy, living out religious norms is more complicated than simply preaching them, especially in global politics. This process leads to political and ethical policy dilemmas as well as to changing patterns of conflict and cooperation with other international actors. By drawing upon unpublished archival documents from five countries, A Living Tradition offers a fresh and interdisciplinary view of both Catholic Social Doctrine and papal diplomacy that explores a key issue of the religious resurgence we are experiencing in the twenty-first century: how religious traditions function in global politics.

Since the onset of the pandemic, progressive opinion has been clear that hard lockdowns are the best way to preserve life, while only irresponsible and destructive conservatives like Trump and Bolsonaro oppose them. But why should liberals favor lockdowns, when all the social science research shows that those who suffer most are the economically disadvantaged, without access to good internet or jobs that can be done remotely; that the young will pay the price of the pandemic in future taxes, job prospects, and erosion of public services, when they are already disadvantaged in comparison in terms of pension prospects, paying university fees, and state benefits; and that Covid's impact on the Global South is catastrophic, with the UN predicting potentially tens of millions of deaths from hunger and declaring that decades of work in health and education is being reversed. Toby Green analyses the contradictions emerging through this response as part of a broader crisis in Western thought, where conservative thought is also riven by contradictions, with lockdown policies creating just the sort of big state that it abhors. These contradictions mirror underlying irreconcilable beliefs in society that are now bursting into the open, with devastating consequences for the global poor.

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

This fully revised and updated textbook focuses on the major topics of globalization today. These include the impact of migration, relations between the northern and southern hemispheres, how gender and power plays into the globalization process, and the politics and economics of freedom of movement in the world. Two new chapters on the impact of technology on global communications and the effect of the emerging economies of India and China bring the book fully up to date. Further current issues such as the debate concerning environmental security, natural disasters, the broad spectrum between women's empowering impact in the marketplace and the continued exploitation of women in the sex and service trade are also examined. Eleanor Kofman and Gillian Youngs have edited an excellent and comprehensive collection essential for both undergraduate and graduate students trying to gain an understanding of theories and practices driving globalization as we enter into the twenty-first century.