Demography and Security: Proceedings of a Workshop, Paris, France, November 2000 (Conference Proceedings (Rand Corporation).)

Description

Demographic shifts are a cause, an effect, and a forerunner of geopoliticalshocks and transformations. Examining these shifts is an important step inany strategic assessment of the global security environment. Unfortunately,the demographic community and the strategic and defense communities seldominteract. Providing venues for such interactions is therefore important. Forthis purpose, RAND sponsored a workshop on Demography and NationalSecurity in Paris at the initiative of RAND_s Population Matters program inNovember 2000. The workshop brought together French, American, and otherEuropean demographers; senior representatives from the French Ministry ofDefense; and researchers, economists, and experts in geopolitics. Revealingdifferences emerged, both between demographers and national-security expertsand also between American and French participants. Different objects ofconcern surfaced, and contrasting views of phenomena were debated. Forexample, immigration and its social, cultural, and political impacts tendedto be seen in an altogether different light on the two sides of theAtlantic. Americans were more likely to focus on the geopoliticalimplications outside U.S. borders, while Europeans focused on its domesticimplications.