Bevölkerungspolitik reloaded: Zwischen BMZ und Bayer

Abstract

Schlagwörter: Entwicklungspolitik, Deutschland, Bevölkerungspolitik, Neomalthusianismus, Demografisierung, Kontrazeptivamärkte, Langzeitverhütungsmittel, öffentlich-private Partnerschaften.

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Population Policy Reloaded: Between BMZ and Bayer.

Abstract

This paper explores recent changes in German international development policy with regards to population and reproductive health, and connects  these to contemporary dynamics in contraceptive markets. While human rights vocabulary is ever-present, countries in the Global South are  encouraged to manage their ‘human capital’ in light of population age  composition and available resources. Twenty years after the Cairo  Conference, key documents and papers indicate a discursive and financial shift towards more explicit Neo-Malthusian approaches. Simultaneously, as evident in major public-private partnerships between pharmaceutical   companies, 530 Summaries such as Bayer HealthCare, with the German government and NGOs, there has been a revival of formerly discredited long-term contraceptives. Drawing on policy papers, interviews, and  statistical data, this paper highlights the considerable interplay between the reoriented German development policy under the name of ‘population dynamics’ and the interests of pharmaceutical companies in contraceptive markets. Particularly worrying in this context is the almost complete lack of critical scrutiny by civil society organisations or social movements.

Keywords: development policy, Germany, population policy, Neo-Malthusianism, demographisation, contraceptive markets, long-term contraceptives, public private partnerships.

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Bibliographie: Bendix, Daniel/Schultz, Susanne: Bevölkerungspolitik reloaded: Zwischen BMZ und Bayer, PERIPHERIE, 3-2015, S. 447-468. https://doi.org/10.3224/peripherie.v35i140.22998