The Coming Age of Scarcity

Preventing Mass Death and Genocide in the Twenty-First Century

Bibliographic Data

ID11086096
AuthorsStjepan G Mestrovic (corresponding author), Michael N Dobkowski, Isidor Wallimann
Year1999
Volume28
Issue5
Pages605
Publication date1999-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueContemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0094-3061 • E-ISSN: 1939-8638
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2307/2655046
OpenAlexW2090083349
LanguageEN
Citations received6

The structure of the book is simple. The first part analyzes major forces having an impact on the survivability of civilization as we know it into the twenty-first century. It outlines the challenges we face, including overpopulation, pressure upon the land, migration, ecological damage, and social instability. In part two, we present more detailed discussion of the problem of scarcity and how it relates to conflict. The authors in this section argue that the current level of human activity is unsustain­able. They demonstrate that population growth in particular affects the natural world and can affect the social order and international political systems.The authors in part three go beyond the empirical and theoretical studies of the first two parts to examine how scarcity has already led to mass death and genocide in Rwanda, Bosnia, Somalia, and Haiti and to speculate on the likelihood that scarcities could be a more decisive factor in genocide in the future

Criminology · Development economics · Economics · Genocide · Political science · Scarcity · Sociology · Demography · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Law