POPULATION AND SECURITY

The erosion of modern and traditional social security schemes, the bre akdown of traditional welfare systems, the rise of what appears to be structural unemployment, the widening rifts between the haves and the have-nots of this world and the increasing difficulty of access to the resources of the environment are not conducive to the harmony of nati onal societies or to international security. Comparisons can, of cours e, be drawn between the 'social question' of our time and that which l ed to the upsurge of reformist or revolutionary movements in the ninet eenth century. However, the political context in which this contempora ry 'social question' is arising has changed considerably by becoming w orldwide and hence eluding state sovereignty to a greater degree than in the past. Often enough, states do not possess the resources to cope with it. Furthermore, its determining factors, in particular populati on growth, more than ever before have an international dimension as a result of the global nature of the economic, social and cultural inter actions between different parts of the world. This social question aff ects interstate relations because it gives rise to very rapid and larg e-scale cross-border movements of people and also because of its human itarian implications and its links with development and environmental issues. We may therefore postulate that renewable resources will becom e increasingly scarce under the combined pressure of population growth and modes of production and consumption. Local or regional shortages of this kind might well stir up sources of political and social confli ct, in particular conflicts between social classes and groups, between peoples and between nations. They will also surely help to swell the flow of people between countries and regions, with social and politica l consequences that are, to say the least, unforeseeable. These trends are particularly alarming at a time when most states, and consequentl y international society as a whole, are going through a period of poli tical and social upheaval that calls into question former systems of l egitimation, political boundaries and regimes which appeared to be qui te unassailable. Furthermore, the institutional machinery, set up afte r the war to expedite and manage inter-state co-operation is currently proving incapable of coping in a consistent and appropriate way with the social challenges in question.