How A Group Like the Muslim Brotherhood By Sacrificing Khashoggi Brought A Rich & Powerful State Like Saudi Arabia to its Knees. An Orchestrated Trap and An Inexperienced Crown Prince.

Briefly:

Khashoggi was either a member of Muslim Brotherhood or a sympathizer to Muslim Brotherhood and at the same time an opponent to current Saudi political system. Considering harsh & tough reaction of Saudi government with regards to its opponents, Khashoggi had decided to leave Saudi Arabia and live in exile; a type of self-exiled person.

Considering this brief details, the death of Khashoggi raises some seqrious questions as follows. Khashoggi knew that his life was in danger; as such he left his motherland Saudi Arabia & lived in exile. At the same time, Khashoggi had enough knowledge and information about how Saudi government deals with its opponents; he knew about arrest, torture and in some case abduction of some dissidents by Saudi authority. Despite all these information, Khashoggi entered Saudi embassy in Turkey to obtain a legal document. Why?
Khashoggi could have given legal & legitimate authority to a third person or a lawyer for example to go to Saudi Embassy and obtain that necessary document in a secure & safe manner. Khashoggi didn't do that and this event led to his death.

From this explanation, we might come to another hypothesis. So this might be the real story.
Khashoggi knew that Saudi authority would try to abduct or either kill him in the Saudi Embassy. Despite this threat & danger, he entered Saudi embassy. Khashoggi was a type of suicide bomber. He didn't carry any bomb with himself inside the embassy; but he knew that either by his abduction or death by Saudi officials in the embassy, he would be able to cause a huge damage to Saudi Arabia in different terms.
Some other evidences underpin my argument in this regard. This horrific event happened inside Saudi embassy in Turkey; a country that openly & publicly supports Muslim Brotherhood. Turkish authority or another third party recorded the voice and obtained some video clip from this event. Turkish authority had all the activities of Saudis under its watch & surveillance. They watched & controlled every single move of Saudis including the arrival of 15 Saudis with two private planes , etc etc etc.

In my opinion, the entire this tragic event was a type of orchestrated trap for Saudi government & Saudi Crown prince. And inexperienced & adventurist Saudi Crown Prince felt badly in this trap. To put it simply, by this suicidal mission, Khashoggi caused a huge explosion and accordingly enormous damages to Saudi Arabia in different terms. If Khashoggi had entered Saudi embassy with 1000 kg TNT and exploded there, he could have not caused such a damage to Saudi Arabia & its political system as he has done now.

M. Sirani               16.10.2018 

Overpopulation Is An Effect. The Dilemma of Neo-Malthusian.

         

               Malthusianism

                                 

                                  And  

                  

              The Overpopulation Dilemma

Name: M.Sirani

Institute: Noragric

Course: EDS290, Development Classics

Semester: 2^nd

Date of Submission: 5-5-2009

Total Words: 4171

Introduction:

Dr. Paul Ehrlich states “The battle to feed al of humanity is over. In the 1970s and 1980s hundreds of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now”. He argues “If we don’t do something dramatic about population and environment, and do it immediately, there’s just no hope that civilization will persist” (1974).

Jared Diamond says population growth and overusing natural resources lead to social collapse. Dr. Donald Aiken says “The government has to step in and tamper with religious and personal convictions---maybe even impose penalties for every child a family has beyond two” (wattenberg,1974). Some other scholars go further and attribute overpopulation to other causes such as: poverty, unemployment, environmental degradation, economic stagnation and political instability.

These are well known statements we hear from some academic institutions and media.    Some questions arise from these statements. Is population growth a threat for mankind? Is the world overpopulated? Is overpopulation a real threat or it is just a myth which diverts attention away from the real causes? Are these problems mentioned above, the effects of overpopulation or is overpopulations itself an effect? These are some questions which this paper will attempt to analyze. Before we begin the main discussion, it would be useful to have some information about the concept of “Overpopulation”, and some theories about population size through our history. Where did these views derive from and who introduced it for the first time? In the next section some of these theories will be briefly explained.  

1-The History of population’s Theories:

The concept of population size and population growth has been interesting subject for mankind since ancient time. Two main reasons have been the motivation for population size: Religious dogma and power. Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam have encouraged their followers to be “Fruitful and Multiply” and populate the Earth. On the other hand, some ancient civilizations such as Greeks and Romans advocated maximizing population size in order to become more powerful and stronger than other nations (Britannica,2009).

1-1- Mercantilists:

Between the 16^th and 18^th century most European societies were dominated by mercantilists. This economic group believed that large population provides larger labour supply, markets, armies for defence and foreign expansion such as colonialization. Their slogan was “The larger the population, the richer the nation”. Therefore, most of these countries emphasized and focused on population growth (Britannica,2009).

1-2- Physiocrats:

In 18^th century another school of thought that was popular in Europe, was “The Physiocrats”.

The Physiocrats were economists who believed that the wealth of a nation is derived from the value of agricultural land and agricultural development. This group argued that economic wealth can be achieved from land and agriculture not from population growth (Britannica,2009).

1-3- Utopians:

Another school of thought in the 18^th century was the Utopians. This group believed that humans are mature enough to manage their own lives. Therefore, societies do not need coercive institutions such as police, law, property ownership and family. They believed that all amount of resources must be controlled by all people in society and if there is any limits in population growth, it must be established by people in society. One of the leading proponents of this view was Daniel Malthus the father of Thomas Robert Malthus the founder of social demography. T.R. Malthus was influenced by his father to ideas about population size, food production and relationship between these two concepts. (Britannica,2009). Now we have some knowledge about these theories it would be useful to know who explored modern demography for first time. In the next section Malthus’s population theory will be discussed.

2-Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834):

Malthus was a British political economist and demographer. His major contribution to economic and social thought came in the essay “The principles of population”. This controversial theory made him one of the central figures in population debates in the 19^th and 20^th centuries (Elwell,2006). Today some scholars known as “Neo-Malthusians” use Malthus’s theory and assert that contemporary problems such as poverty and environmental degradation in developing countries are the effects of overpopulation. In order to understand the Neo-Malthusian view is better to have some knowledge about Malthus’s social theory. 

2-1- Malthus Social Theory :( Elwell,2006)

The population theory of Malthus has been rejected by many scholars, but without any doubt it can be said that his ideas have had important effects, not only in demography, but also in public policy, classical & neoclassical economy and biology. In 1798, Malthus published the first edition of his essay anonymously. In that time, some Utopians scholars like    M. Condorcet and W. Godwin had published their views and predicted a future world without disease, anguish, melancholy, or resentment (Leathers&Foster,2004). In fact, Malthus wrote his essay in response to the Utopians, but the lack of empirical evidence and anonymity of the writer caused that this essay became the target of broad discussion and attack. These criticisms stimulated Malthus to collect more data and evidence in order to better defends his hypothesis, which he pursued in future editions of his essay. In his essay, Malthus analyzed the relationship between population growth and food resources.

According to Malthus, the humankind has two basic needs: food and sex. The first need leads humankind to production of food and the later to reproduction of children. Malthus stated “The rate of reproduction is higher than the production of food”. Malthus argued that the population size (unchecked) increases in a geometrical ratio ie.2,4,8,16,32,64 and food resources increase in an arithmetical ratio ie.1,2,3,4,5,6. He stated that the population will be double in size in next 25 years and our food resources will not be enough to feed all the population. Therefore, we must check the population growth by using two types of control: Preventive and Positive checks which both have negative consequences for individuals as well as societies. 

2-2- Preventive Check:

According to Malthus, the preventive check can be done in different ways. The ideal type for Malthus was, to practice the celibacy before marriage and marry late until a couple can support their children. Malthus believed this action creates misery for humankind. He stated that desire for sex is one of the basic human needs and constraining this desire leads the individual towards “unnatural acts” such as prostitution, and the use of birth control. Malthus argued that by using preventive check some other problems will b occur in society.

First it increases unhappiness among men and women. Second it decreases life expectancy, as an effect of sexually transmitted diseases and drugs. Finally, the practice of non-productive sexuality destroys the virtues and purity of manners in family as well as society (Elwell,2006).

2-3- Positive Check:

Malthus stated that there must be balance between the population size and subsistence from the environment. He argued that the lack of space for grows and nutrition enforces animals and plants use this type of check and they do not feed their offspring. In humankind this positive check would be some natural or artificial disasters which reduce the large number of human populations such as, famine, disease, hard labour, misery, war and unwholesome occupations.

Based on these statements Malthus illustrated cyclical relationship between production and reproduction. He argued when the food production increases, the price of food will decrease and this easy access to cheap food stimulates the families to have more children. The rise in population creates two problems. First the demand for food increases and as a result the prices go up and second the number of workers increases and as a result the wages decrease and through an unfair competition the new labourers will work harder, longer and cheaper.

These events induce the farmers to increase the productivity by hiring more workers and putting more land under cultivation. And again, this increase in productivity stimulates reproduction. According to Malthus, this cycle is not static because some other events such as wars, disease, economic cycles, technological breakthrough and government action can influence and disrupt it. Malthus claimed that this problem has always existed and will continue in the future societies. Thus, he concluded that inequality lies in the structure of human societies and that equal distribution of wealth and resources to all can not be achieved.

He stated that every society needs a working class and the labourers are responsible to wrest resources from nature. He believed that self-interest and private property provide stimulation and motivation for human thought and action. In this case, Malthus stated that inequality is a natural phenomenon in the social structure of human society. In fact, Malthus could not analyze logically the cause of poverty in his social theory, although, he did not believe that the poor people were responsible for their condition and he said the poor “Are the unhappy persons who, in the great lottery of life, have drawn a blank” (Elwell,2006).

As mentioned in the beginning of this paper, Malthus’s theory was controversial idea in those years at different fields. However, Malthus was a proponent of free medical care for the poor, universal education and democratic institutions which in those years were radical ideas, but many scholars such as Marx criticized him and some religious institutes accused him to blasphemy. Marx harshly criticized Malthus theory and called him a “Miserable parson” guilty of publishing “Vile and infamous doctrine”. Marx stated that these problems which Malthus states occur only in capitalist systems. He argued that under socialism and with functioning state the surplus product of labour and wealth will be distributed equally among all people in society and this will eliminate the poverty (Britannica,2009) On the contrary there were some other scholars which appreciated Malthus ideas. Charles Darwin the founder of Evolution Theory acknowledged a great debt to Malthus in the development of his theory of Natural Selection (Britannica). Besides social theory, it can be said that Malthus was one of the scholars during the Enlightenment that provided rational explanations for social development. Like a philosopher he used reason and empirical data to postulate abstract theories in different fields in society such as economy, population and the relationships between them.

 This was a short explanation about Malthus and his social theory. In the next section the view of Neo-Malthusians will be explained. This school of thought believes that all contemporary problems are the effects of overpopulation.

3- Neo-Malthusians view:

One of the most influential views at the present time about population is Neo-Malthusianism.   The proponents of this view based on Malthus social theory argue that rapid population growth causes different social, environmental, economic and political problems.

P. Ehrlich in his book” The Populations Bomb” (1974) states that:

“Remember, overpopulation does not normally mean too many people for the area of a country, but too many people in relation to the necessities and amenities of life. Overpopulation occurs when numbers threaten values”.

He continues that the world is running out of food because of overpopulation and according to him “the battle to feed humanity is lost”. He states that half of the world population suffers from little food and scarcity of proteins and vitamins in their diet.                                                                                   

Furthermore, he continues that rapid population growth has influenced the face of the Earth and as a result some organisms both plants and animals are now extinct. Based on these explanations, he concludes that environmental degradation has negative impacts on human life not only physically but also mentally and as a result we are witnessing more riots, rising crime rates, disaffection of youth, and increased drug usage in our societies (Ehrlich,1974).

Some other Neo-Malthusian scholars suggest that government must be more involved and, in some cases, must impose punishments for people who do not follow the population control program.

One of the strongest positions on population control comes from Dr. Garret Hardin when he says “In the long run voluntarism is insanity. The result will be continued uncontrolled population growth” (Ben.Wattenberg,1974). In this particular case it means that it is necessary for a government to enforce the people to have fewer children.

These scholars blame the overpopulation in developing countries for the responsible cause of environmental degradation. In different international and domestic conferences, they argue that deforestation and air pollution occurring in developing countries, threaten the whole world. According to this view, the overexploitation of lands and natural resources causes these environmental problems. Generally, the whole Neo-Malthusian view can be illustrated more in paragraph below. This paragraph states that:

“In the New Malthusian view it is argued that rapid population growth results in widespread poverty, economic stagnation, environmental destruction, rapid urbanization, unemployment, and political instability. During the years of Cold War and the Vietnam War, in particular the view prevailed that overpopulation, resulting in mass hunger, was a breeding ground for revolutionary activity”. (Hewitt& Smyth,2000).

At this point we have some knowledge about Malthus social theory and Neo-Malthusian view. In order to illustrate more our discussion, it would be useful to have some knowledge about the theory of demographic transition.

4- The Demographic Transition Theory :(Leathers&Foster,2004)

This theory classifies the population growth by considering the fertility and mortality. The first formulation was explored by English demographer Warren Thompson in 1929 and later developed by Frank Notestein in 1945 (Britannica,2009). According to this view the World population growth passes through four stages.

4-1- Stage I

Preindustrial stage: In this stage both fertility and mortality are unchecked. The birth rates are higher than death rates. However, some disasters such as wars, famines and epidemic diseases cause population loss, but population grows slowly.

4-2- Stage II

Mortality Decline before fertility decline: In this stage by help of better public medical care, better food, and water supplies, death rates decrease and life expectancy increases. If the birth rate does not change by some disastrous events, the population will grow rapidly.

4-3- Stage III

Fertility decline: As a result of more urbanization and industrialization the birth rate usually decreases because more people are interested to limit their family size. Maybe periodic population grows rapidly, but when the death rates and death rates are even the population grows slowly and may even fall to zero or below.

4-4- Stage IV

Modern Stage: In this level, both the birth rate and the death rate are low and population size is stable. The family size is small at about two children per family and if the fertility rate increases, population size increases slowly. The figure 1 below illustrates the demographic transition theory.

Population

                                                                   Time 

        A                 B               C                D

Figure 1: Demographic transition theory :(Leathers&Foster,2004)

A: Stage I: High birth &death rates.

B: Stage II: Birth rate high, declining mortality.

C: Stage III: Declining birth rate.

D: Stage IV: Low birth&death rate.

There are several reasons which confirm the demographic transition theory. Below are some examples that will be discussed.  Based on demographic transition it can be concluded that:

First, developed countries passed through these stages and are at stage IV and in some cases even the birth rate is less than death rate in these countries. For example, statistic shows that Sweden before 1805 was in the last point of stage A with almost equal birth and death rates. From 1805 until 1875 Sweden passed Stage B, when the death rates decreased. Since 1875 until 1975 was Sweden in stage C, as birth rates decreased faster than death rates. Since then until now is Sweden in stage D and that means birth and death rates are almost equal and it can be said that the birth rate is less than the death rate.

Second, a comparison of population growth rates between developed and developing countries show that the birth rate in developing countries is higher than developed countries.

These are the population growth rates of three continents in the period 1995-2000.

- Africa: 2.35 percent per year  

- Asia: 1.41 percent per year

- Europe: 0.02 percent per year

These statistics shows also that developed countries (Europe) are in the last stage (D) of demographic transition.(Leathers&Foster,2004)

In order to illustrate more differences, let us compare two countries from developed and developing countries, Norway and Afghanistan.

Year	Population growth rate (%)	Year	Population growth rate (%)
2000	0.5	2000	3.54
2001	0.49	2001	3.48
2002	0.47	2002	3.43
2003	0.46	2003	3.38
2004	0.41	2004	4.92
2005	0.4	2005	4.77
2006	0.38	2006	2.67
2007	0.363	2007	2.625
2008	0.35	2008	2.626

                        (Norway)                                                          (Afghanistan)

Table 1 :( (Indexmundi.com,2009)

The table 1 illustrates that the population growth rate in Afghanistan is much higher than in Norway. Other statistics released by some international organizations also confirm that population growth in developing countries is much higher than developed countries. But these questions still remain: Is there any relevant relationship between Malthus, Neo-Malthusian theories and development in the third world countries? Are developing countries poor because of overpopulation? Is overpopulation a cause or an effect?  What are the causes of overpopulation?  These questions will be discussed in next section.

 5- Discussion:

 Malthus can be named as the founder of modern demography, but there are some contradictions in his social theory. He did not predict the technological, social and cultural development and their effects in human life. At the present time based on technological inventions in different fields of science, agricultural production has increased enough to feed the total population in the world. Different medical methods have been explored in order to limit or prevent pregnancy such as contraception, sterilization and abortion. 

 On the other hand, these scientific developments have been accompanied with social and cultural progressive changes such as small family size.

Logical philosophy states that when we are facing a problem, the use of the cause and effect formula would be the best alternative. Otherwise, the problem will not be solved fundamentally. One of the major contradictions in Neo-Malthusian view is that they do not analyze the poverty and overpopulation in developing countries through this casual reasoning formula. In fact, the Neo-Malthusian view tries to divert the public discourse from the real causes of poverty by emphasizing the effects of overpopulation.

However, based on statistics published by some international organizations such as UN it can be derived that population growth rates in developing countries are higher than developed countries, but it has to be emphasized that overpopulation is one of the effects of poverty. It means the people are not poor because they have many children; but have many children because they are poor. In order to highlight more our discussion, let us examine the cause of overpopulation.

5-1- Some of The causes of overpopulation:

As mentioned above the population growth is higher in developing countries. There are some socio-economic and political factors involved in this case. Here below some of them will be briefly explained:

5-1-1- The lack of access to proper health care, food, drinking water, and education increase the infant mortality.

The high infant mortality rates in developing countries enforce the women to have more births in order to be sure that some of children survive until adulthood.

5-1-2- Severe poverty forces the parents to have more children.

Because the children have economic values for parents and in some cases, they may relieve their mothers from work. In developing countries, children begin to work from the age of 6 or 7 years old. For example, in Iran in the countryside the children are responsible for some activities like: Working on land, cleaning, caring for chickens, ducks, domestic animals, and younger children. In the city, some of children have to work for wages in different occupations such as tailors, barbers, etc.

5-1-3- Children have more security in elderly time for parents.

There is no welfare and social security for people especially for the elderly. The children (especially sons) are responsible to provide security for their parents during their old age. Therefore, parents try to have more children in order to ensure their future.

5-1-4- Having more children equals more power during a conflict:

The lack of rule of law and instability forces the parents to have more children in order to defend themselves against other ethnic group offences. The countryside in Iran could be an example where some families are proud and strong because they have 7 or 8 sons.

5-1-5- Gender inequality:

The lack of good governance and proper education has created traditional and patriarchal societies in developing countries. As a result, the women have unequal rights and this has created social and cultural obstacles for women. In some developing countries, young women are forced to marry under the age of 18 years old and the best role for them is to be a “Good mother”. In most of developing countries, they do not have even control over their bodies (fertility and sexuality) and abortion is prohibited for them. (Iran based on Islamic law).

Based on the statements noted above, it can be concluded that overpopulation in developing countries is an effect of poverty itself. In order to solve this problem, we have to find a fundamental solution for abolishing poverty.

6- Conclusion:

In conclusion I have to imply that there is no relevant relation between these Malthusian theories and development in the third world countries and overpopulation can not be the cause of underdevelopment and poverty. Based on the demographic transition theory and other statistics published by international organizations like UN it can be said that population growth rates in developing countries are higher than developed countries. This statement also shows that countries with high income have less overpopulation problem. As it noted in this paper the Neo-Malthusian view claims that rapid population growth causes different problems like, Poverty, economic stagnation, environmental destruction, air pollution etc.

As I explained in this paper all these problems are the results of underdevelopment and poverty in third world countries. Poverty is the cause of overpopulation and criminal activities. When people in third world countries do not have access to clean energy, they use fuel-wood. When they can not afford fertilizers for their agricultural land, they burn the land and leave it for one year to be suitable and strong enough again for cultivation.

Here I have to emphasize that the only solution for all these problems is sustainable development. Sustainable development can be achieved through good governance.

In order to achieve sustainable development some policies must be taken seriously and simultaneously by governments, including:

- Good macro and micro economic development programs.

- Good land reform and agricultural development.

- Fundamental investments in human capital. It means proper education, healthcare, family planning, improved nutrition and anti poverty programs.

- Rule of law, civil and civic society.

In addition, one of the most important factors would be establishing, democracy, freedom and equal rights for both men and women.

All these factors must be done simultaneously, because all of them are related to each other and none of them can be achieved fundamentally without others.

M.Sirani        5.5.2009 Norway

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Bahr, H. M. & Chadwick, B. A. & Thomas, D. L. (1974) (eds) Population, Resources, And The Future: Non-Malthusian Perspectives, Brigham Young University press, Provo, Utah.

Diamond, J. (1974) in Bahr, H. M. & Chadwick, B. A. & Thomas, D. L. (eds) Population, Resources, And The Future: Non-Malthusian Perspectives, Brigham Young University press, Provo, Utah.

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Accessed:  (28, 04, 2009)

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