Reviews

"Sciubba has written an extremely important and timely book. With exhaustive research and the extensive use of real world examples, she explores the nexus linking demography – population growth rates, age structures, migration, and urbanization – to national security. More importantly, she breaks new ground in two areas: by showing us how the resiliency and capacity of individual states – their institutions, infrastructure, policy choices, and leadership – ultimately define the strategic implications of demographic trends; and by demonstrating a highly relevant analytic framework that employs external security, internal security, and structural security lenses to bring demographic issues into clearer focus. A must read for anyone attempting to better understand the future global security environment." —Ken Knight, Former U.S. National Intelligence Officer for Warning

"Jennifer Sciubba has written an absolutely indispensable work that should be on every policy-maker’s or scholar’s must read list. One does not need to believe that 'demography is destiny' to know that in the world we are entering demographic trends will have enormous effects on the nature of conflict, the locations where it is likely to erupt and the role US allies may or may not be able to play in dealing with those conflicts. Sciubba’s book ranges like no other across the entire gamut of demographic trends with potential to affect international security – youth bulges in the developing world, rapidly graying populations among American allies, the role of demographic transitions in rising powers like China, as well as the role of migration, refugee flows and urbanization. In a world where Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has identified failed or failing states as one of the key future security challenges understanding demographics will be crucial and Sciubba’s book provides a key to understanding the interactions among all these trends. One of the book’s special virtues is that the author is at home in both the relevant demographic and international relations literature and manages to synthesize the two streams of material in an easily accessible form. During my tenure as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from 2005-2009 I insisted that my policy and war planning experts pay attention to demographic trends. I only wish that Sciubba’s book had been available to us, it would have filled a huge intellectual void in defense planning."—Eric S. Edelman, Distinguished Fellow, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and Visiting Scholar at the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)

"Sciubba’s book reflects her experience in both the scholarly and practitioner worlds and she makes key contributions to both the emerging demography and security research field and to the practical security policy world. Sciubba’s work provides a needed foundation for connecting traditional state security concerns with underlying human security and development priorities. It deepens our understanding of how neglect of the latter can contribute directly to problems in the former." —Geoffrey D. Dabelko, Director, Environmental Change and Security Program, Woodrow Wilson Center