Babies Will Save Us

Chapter 9 examines the transnationalization of the neo-mercantilist discourse among developed world states. Tracing its origins to developments in France and the Soviet Union, this chapter explores how current government attitudes across the developed world came to be, as over two-thirds of all developed world states are now trying to grow their populations through manipulating fertility. This is the first major deconstruction of modern attitudes on population growth among developed world states that fully accounts for the rise and spread of such dramatically isomorphic policies across such dissimilar states while simultaneously accounting for the generalized failure of such policies to result in the desired objective. This chapter updates the natalist history of the developed world and explains how such a diverse array of governments, policymakers, academics, and the general public have come to seek the salvation of their nations in the wombs of their people.