Constitutions, Populations and Demographic Change

Opeskin, B; Nwauche, E

Constitutions, Populations and Demographic Change

Opeskin, B

Nwauche, E

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Publisher:: Routledge
Publication Type:: Chapter
Citation:: Routledge Handbook of Constitutional Law, 2013, pp. 455 - 468
Issue Date:: 2013

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	(2012) Opeskin & Nwauche - Const & Populations (page proof).pdf	Accepted Manuscript version	149.48 kB	Adobe PDF	View/Open

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Opeskin, B https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9393-3592	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Nwauche, E	en_US
dc.contributor.editor	Tushnet, M	en_US
dc.contributor.editor	Fleiner, T	en_US
dc.contributor.editor	Saunders, C	en_US
dc.date.issued	2013	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Routledge Handbook of Constitutional Law, 2013, pp. 455 - 468	en_US
dc.identifier.isbn	9781135100186	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/52821
dc.description.abstract	In late 2011 the world marked the arrival of its seven- billionth human inhabitant. It had taken just 12 years for the last billion people to be added to world population; the next billion is expected to be added within 14 years, by 2025. The United Nations projects that 2.4 billion people will be added to the world’s 2010 population by 2050. Some 97 percent of this growth will be in less developed regions—mostly in Africa and Asia—and nearly all in urban centres. Europe, by contrast, is projected to decline in absolute population, despite signifi cant immigration. Changes of this scale generate signifi cant long- term social transformations within countries, as populations change in size, composition and spatial distribution. It might be expected that constitutions would anticipate or refl ect such changes because constitutions are intended to establish an enduring legal architecture for the governance of social and political communities. While many constitutions reveal an awareness of population dynamics, for others the impact can be subtle or fragmented. The link between constitutions and populations attracted attention in the 1970s and 1980s, after Paul Erlich’s book, The Population Bomb , generated widespread international concern about the Malthusian calamity that might arise from unchecked population growth in a world of fi nite resources (Ehrlich). In that context, several scholars examined how the US Constitution might regulate demographic processes, but the issue has now largely slipped from view. This Chapter seeks to address this gap.	en_US
dc.publisher	Routledge	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Routledge Handbook of Constitutional Law	en_US
dc.title	Constitutions, Populations and Demographic Change	en_US
dc.type	Chapter
utslib.location	USA	en_US
utslib.for	1801 Law	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Law
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.consider-herdc	false	en_US
pubs.place-of-publication	USA	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US

Abstract:

In late 2011 the world marked the arrival of its seven- billionth human inhabitant. It had taken just 12 years for the last billion people to be added to world population; the next billion is expected to be added within 14 years, by 2025. The United Nations projects that 2.4 billion people will be added to the world’s 2010 population by 2050. Some 97 percent of this growth will be in less developed regions—mostly in Africa and Asia—and nearly all in urban centres. Europe, by contrast, is projected to decline in absolute population, despite signifi cant immigration. Changes of this scale generate signifi cant long- term social transformations within countries, as populations change in size, composition and spatial distribution. It might be expected that constitutions would anticipate or refl ect such changes because constitutions are intended to establish an enduring legal architecture for the governance of social and political communities. While many constitutions reveal an awareness of population dynamics, for others the impact can be subtle or fragmented. The link between constitutions and populations attracted attention in the 1970s and 1980s, after Paul Erlich’s book, The Population Bomb , generated widespread international concern about the Malthusian calamity that might arise from unchecked population growth in a world of fi nite resources (Ehrlich). In that context, several scholars examined how the US Constitution might regulate demographic processes, but the issue has now largely slipped from view. This Chapter seeks to address this gap.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/52821