Population Weights in the International Order

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4122525
AutoresGeoffrey Mcnicoll (Australian National University, autor de correspondencia)
Año1999
Volumen25
Número3
Páginas411-442
Fecha de publicación1999-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPopulation and Development Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0098-7921 • E-ISSN: 1728-4457
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1728-4457.1999.00411.x
OpenAlexW1986002512
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas12
Referencias citadas57

Relative population sizes play little part in the international system. A state's economic and military power is influenced by population size, but as one factor among many. Formal relations among states exclude population from consideration by the principle of sovereign equality. Three sources of possible change in this situation are explored, in which states would be "population-weighted" to a greater degree than before. Convergence of productivity levels around the world, expected by many, would bring the economic and population rankings of states more into line. Some convergence is occurring, but selectively and for the most part quite slowly. Anticipation of its effect, however, influences the international order well in advance. A second source of change is the necessity to allocate among states the use of global commons, particularly the atmosphere as a sink for greenhouse gases. Acceptable remedies for this problem and perhaps for other global-level threats are likely to involve at least in part a per capita allocation principle. And third, population weights will tend to be more prominent in futures in which states are less important-as envisaged, for example, in the more benign scenarios of global society

Convergence (economics) · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Futures contract · Global commons · Order (exchange) · Per capita · Population · Sociology · World population · Demography · Economic Growth and Productivity · Income, Poverty, and Inequality · Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy