The Great Debate on Population Policy: An Instructive Entertainment

This paper presents a debate on population policy among three positions intended as prototypic. The debate utilizes actual statements from recent literature. The discussion concentrates on the following topics: population in the context of development the merit of family planning programs and the strategies of intervention. In summary debaters FamPlan DevDev and AcCrit argued about the demographic facts the absence of any panaceas population as only a means the need for both direct and indirect efforts and the empirical results of family planning programs including the existence of a problem. The most consequential differences in the debate were in the formulation of issues. DevDev and AcCrit talk about theoretical analysis and basic causes and fundamental solutions whereas FamPlan deals with the practical next steps and allocation of resources and incremental advances. The author underscored an important point that the debate seems to be least joined but most needed the importance of proper policy issues. As a whole the author concluded that the debate did not lead to an optimistic conclusion rather it adds up to an overwhelming impression of negativism. Indeed the debate is too schematic it assumes clear-cut and clearly formulated alternatives that do not exist.