ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents a wide body of primary and secondary sources of data and discourse: discourse is understood here as any written or verbal data comprising 'speeches, reports, manifestos, historical events, interviews, policies, ideas'. Neo-Malthusianism emerged in the early twentieth century, revived by a number of non-governmental agents, primarily demographers and the birth control leagues. The resultant re-conceptualisation of security from its traditional forms gave rise to broader understandings of threat both source and object and of what it means to be secure. Areas once considered the realm of low politics, were elevated to the high political status of security. In the twentieth century, the study and practice of security was largely dominated by the realist/neo-realist and idealist/neo-liberalist paradigms. The United Nations (UN), particularly the United Nations Fund for Population Activity (UNFPA), have provided the main global forum for this debate process.
