Malthus Factor: Poverty, Politics And Population In Capitalist Development; Author: Ross, Eric B.; Paperback (C Format)

Author: Ross, Eric B.
Paperback (C Format); Notes, Bibliography, Index
270 pages
Published: October 1998
Zed Books
ISBN: 1856495647

This book represents a major critique of the way Malthusian thinking has influenced capitalist development policy in the modern period, as well as in the past. Taking an historical and comparative view, it highlights the strategic role of Malthusian ideas in the defense of capitalist political economy when confronted by struggles for equality and human progress. The leading historical example the author takes offers a major reassessment of the origins of the Irish Famine. His contemporary case study focuses on the Green Revolution, which the author analyzes in terms of a broad Western strategy of capitalist agricultural development in the face of peasant insurgency. The book examines how the political economy of underdevelopment is currently being obscured by alarm over the envirA critique of the way Malthusian thinking has influenced capitalist development policy in the modern period, as well as in the past. It highlights the strategic role of Malthusian ideas in the defence of capitalist political economy when confronted by struggles for equality and human progress.