Roger and Patricia Jeffery are well known for their work on religion and gender in South Asia. In their latest book, a study of the demographic processes of two castes in rural north India, they ask why fertility levels are higher among the Muslim Sheikhs than the Hindu Jats. They conclude that explanations can only partially be attributed to gender relationships and religion, and it is the economic and political interests of both groups which are the defining factors. Their marginal economic position provides little incentive for the Sheikhs to raise small families, while the Jats, who are locally dominant, are encouraged to use birth control and educate their children. The authors go on to demonstrate the significance of this analysis for a wider understanding of the problems of population and politics in India generally. The book will be invaluable for students of South Asia and for anyone interested in the demography of developing countries.

The field of political demography - the politics of population change - is dramatically underrepresented in political science. At a time when demographic changes - aging in the rich world, youth bulges in the developing world, ethnic and religious shifts, migration, and urbanization - are waxing as never before, this neglect is especially glaring and starkly contrasts with the enormous interest coming from policymakers and the media. "Ten years ago, [demography] was hardly on the radar screen," remarks Richard Jackson and Neil Howe of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, two contributors to this volume. "Today," they continue, "it dominates almost any discussion of America's long-term fiscal, economic, or foreign-policy direction." Demography is the most predictable of the social sciences: children born in the last five years will be the new workers, voters, soldiers, and potential insurgents of 2025 and the political elites of the 2050s. Whether in the West or the developing world, political scientists urgently need to understand the tectonics of demography in order to grasp the full context of today's political developments. This book begins to fill the gap from a global and historical perspective and with the hope that scholars and policymakers will take its insights on board to develop enlightened policies for our collective future.

As a field of scholarship, gender and politics has exploded over the last fifty years and is now global, institutionalized, and ever expanding. The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics brings to political science an accessible and comprehensive overview of the key contributions of gender scholars to the study of politics and shows how these contributions produce a richer understanding of polities and societies. Like the field it represents, the handbook has a broad understanding of what counts as political and is based on a notion of gender that highlights masculinities as well as femininities, thereby moving feminist debates in politics beyond the focus on women. It engages with some of the key aspects of political science as well as important themes in gender and feminist research (such as sexuality and body politics), thereby forging a dialogue between gender studies in politics and mainstream political science. The handbook is organized in sections that look at sexuality and body politics; political economy; civil society; participation, representation and policymaking; institutions, states and governance as well as nation, citizenship and identity. The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics contains and reflects the best scholarship in its field.

This handbook presents a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of gender in demography, addressing the many different influences of gender that arise from or influence demographic processes. It collects in one volume the key issues and perspectives in this area, whereby demography is broadly defined. The purpose in casting a wide net is to cover the range of work being done within demography, but at the same time to open up our perspectives to neighboring fields to encourage better conversations around these issues. The chapters in this handbook carefully document definition and measurement issues, and take up parts of the demographic picture and focus on how gender plays a role in outcomes. In other cases, gender often plays a cross-cutting role in social processes; rather than having a single or easily distinguishable role, it often combines with other social institutions and even other statuses and inequalities to affect outcomes. Thus, a key factor in this volume is how gender interacts with race/ethnicity, class, nationality, and sexuality in any demographic setting. While each section contains chapters that are broad overviews of the current state of knowledge and behavior, the handbook also includes chapters that focus on specific cultures or events in order to examine how gender operates in a particular circumstance.

Dorothy Stein confronts the contentious political issues on all sides of the population debate, including immigration, demographic competition, gender ratios, reproductive research and children's rights. She argues that lower fertility rates are preferred by women themselves; are beneficial in their own right to both women and children; and should not be used as a bargaining chip in any other area of the development debate. This is a challenging contribution to the debate. It presents a persuasive case for policies which recognise hopeful trends in relieving the environmental and social pressures of an increasing global population, and portends a better future for those who, to date, have counted for little amongst those who do the counting

This volume draws together a wide range of exciting new research that looks at the gendered nature of the institutions, practices, and discourses of global governance.

What do we know about women, politics, and democracy in the United States? The last thirty years have witnessed a remarkable increase in women's participation in American politics and an explosion of research on female political actors, and the transformations effected by them, during the same period. Political Women and American Democracy provides a critical synthesis of scholarly research by leading experts in the field. The collected essays examine women as citizens, voters, participants, movement activists, partisans, candidates, and legislators. The authors provide frameworks for understanding and organizing existing scholarship; focus on theoretical, methodological, and empirical debates; and map out productive directions for future research. As the only book to offer "state of the field" essays on women and gender in U.S. politics, Political Women and American Democracy will be an invaluable resource for scholars and students studying and conducting women and politics research.