Excessive force : power, politics, and population control : an essay on the benevolent superpower, sustainable development, and other contemporary myths.

Reprint. Originally published : Sashington, D.C. : Information Project for Africa, Inc., 1995

How would the American people react if their government told them exactly how many children they should or should not have? And what would be their response if these orders came not from their own leaders, but from a foreign power intent on maximizing its access to national resources, maintaining political domination, and imposing its culture by force? It is not surprising that the peoples of the southern hemisphere have stubbornly resisted efforts by the west to introduce coercive limits to fertility. But what will surprise many readers is the extent of the involvement of many of the so-called "secret" agencies of government, and the lengths to which policy makers in wealthy countries will go to prevent births among persons of color. In fact, western political leaders, now at the brink of desperation, are motivated by the belief that the existing balance of political and economic power can only be preserved into the next century by a new colonial system ? one in which reproductive control is the central concern.