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.

PART I Political Demography and Political Science ; 1. Introduction ; 2. A Theory of Political Demography: Human and Institutional Reproduction ; PART II Population and International Security ; 3. Demography and Geopolitics: Understanding Today's Debate in Its Historical Context ; 4. America's Golden Years? Security in an Aging World ; 5. A New Framework for Aging and Security: Lessons from Power Transition Theory ; PART III Demography, Development, and Conflict ; 6. Age Structure and Development through a Policy Lens ; 7. The Age-Structural Maturity Thesis: The Impact of the Youth Bulge on the Advent and Stability of Liberal Democracy ; 8. Youth Bulges and Violence ; 9. Democracy, Climate Change, and Conflict ; Part IV Demography and National Politics ; 10. Racial Demographics and the 2008 Presidential Election in the United States ; 11. Demography and Immigration Restriction in American History ; 12. The Changing Face of Europe ; 13.

Political Demography" is a collection of essays that shows some of the results of the new research in more detail. A chapter by Mark Haas of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh argues that demographic change will consolidate America's strategic position because all other leading nations have such dire demographic trends. China's one-child policy means there is a shortage of women of child-bearing age. As a result, between now and 2050 the number of men in China aged 20 to 25 (ie, of prime military recruiting age) will halve. Similarly, points out Eric Kaufmann, in many countries, fundamentalist religious groups have fertility rates two or three times higher than the societies in which they live. Israel is a good example. Over time, this will alter the balance of power in those countries.

"Political Demography" is a collection of essays that shows some of the results of the new research in more detail. A chapter by Mark Haas of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh argues that demographic change will consolidate America's strategic position because all other leading nations have such dire demographic trends. China's one-child policy means there is a shortage of women of child-bearing age. As a result, between now and 2050 the number of men in China aged 20 to 25 (ie, of prime military recruiting age) will halve. Similarly, points out Eric Kaufmann, in many countries, fundamentalist religious groups have fertility rates two or three times higher than the societies in which they live. Israel is a good example. Over time, this will alter the balance of power in those countries."--The Economist

Jack A. Goldstone is the Hazel Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University and received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has won major prizes from the American Sociological Association and the Historical Society for his research on revolutions, population, and political conflict. His 2010 essay in Foreign Affairs, "The New Population Bomb" has received world-wide attention. A Phi Beta Kappa visiting lecturer, Goldstone has authored or edited ten books and published over one hundred articles in books and scholarly journals. His latest books are Why Europe? The Rise of the West 1500-1850 (2008) and Understanding Revolutions (forthcoming). Eric P. Kaufmann is Professor of Politics at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the author of Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth: Demography and Politics in the Twenty-First Century (2010), The Rise and Fall of Anglo-America (2004), and three other books. He has written on religion and demography for Newsweek International, Foreign Policy, and Prospect magazines. Monica Duffy Toft is Associate Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Initiative on Religion in International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Her current research examines the role of nationalism, religion, and rationality in relation to political violence. She is the author of The Geography of Ethnic Violence: Identity, Interests, and the Indivisibility of Territory (2003), Securing the Peace: The Durable Settlement of Civil Wars (2010), and God's Century (2011).