Demographic Engineering: Population Strategies in Ethnic Conflict

’At a time of demographic upheaval and soaring migration across ethnic lines, this book is more timely than ever. Paul Morland explains how ethnic groups and the nations they command have shaped their populations to maximise loyalty and minimise difference. Drawing on a range of case studies, he explains how dominant groups control ethnic composition through both identity construction and population policy.’ Eric Kaufmann, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK ’In this ambitious and thought-provoking book, Paul Morland argues for the centrality of strategies of demographic engineering in societies riven by ethnic conflicts. Particularly striking is Morland's distinction between hard engineering which seeks to increase or decrease an ethnic group's numbers and power by encouraging fertility or mortality, or through population movements, and soft engineering which focuses on changing territorial borders or ethnic identities. The result is a penetrating analysis of demographic components of ethnic conflicts in Sri Lanka, Israel/Palestine, Northern Ireland and the United States of America. Cogently argued and lucidly presented, Demographic Engineering makes an original and vital contribution to our understanding of the strategies of ethnic conflict.’ Anthony D. Smith, London School of Economics, UK