Dear Canem Malum,

Primogeniture creates its own problems. In the eleventh century it created younger sons of the nobility trained in the use of arms with little prospects for a future. They were a nuisance in the countryside marauding, raping peasant girls, etc. In 1096 Pope Urban II called for a Crusade. This removed the younger sons of the nobility to the Middle East neatly transferring a pain in the neck in Europe to an unwelcome presence in the eastern Mediterranean.

I agree with you about reducing the population. The Chinese tried it with their one child policy involving compulsory abortions which to me is undesirable. How would you do it?

China's one child policy, no longer exists, but it and Asian wish for sons still impacts
A day may come, if it has not already, that wars are fought to gain brides
Population control will bring other problems, maybe a two child policy?

david f, if I may weigh in on your question.
The Chinese method would work, although I believe it was only intended for a certain part of the population.
I cannot recall if it was aimed at the rural or urban, folks.
I think there was a 'pass' clause, that if you had an extra child you had the option of paying a fee or a 'fine'.
The problem I recall, was that because of the Chinese tradition of preferring a male over a female, the act of terminating was practiced if it was a girl.
The one child policy would work, the only problem being the enforcement of such a law, and it would have to be law.
Then there is the problem of different cultures and their propensity to reproduce, either due to lack of contraception because of their faith or the eagerness to create more offspring because of their fate.
Muslims come to mind as the Koran teaches/encourages it's followers to go forth and reproduce as many children as possible.
I think it has something to do with overwhelming the world with Muslims, therefore making them the majority and so taking control of countries by vote and not by force.
We are seeing this happening with examples like Turkey.
A local example closer to home, as I recall, a Sydney Mayor was of Chinese birth, a perfect example of my point, and it is in our own 'front' yard.
There is another more relevant and current option which is trending more and more.
This current, and I fear, future generations, are becoming less inclined or drawn into 'family' lives, because of the selfish and self centred doctrines being pushed by certain groups such as feminists.
These females have lost their way through being groomed over the years, into believing they do not need men any more, so more and more females are choosing the 'single' life, having a 'partner' for such social events like socialising, sex, company when it suites them, but ultimately they have chosen the secular life of a career over a family.

I feel guilty for having three, but I had a great talk with my first born this am. So far none of my six grandchildren have produced young, but I think they all have the requisite equipment. Maybe they all will see the folly and will refrain. Along with my guilt I take a great joy in my nine descendants.

A 'two child' policy will do nothing.
The numbers will remain as they are today.
If we are serious about the overpopulation problem it must be at least, or no more than a 'one child' policy.
The reduction in population and the time it will take will be quite dramatic and have a real effect in suddenly seeing the number of people drop by quite a large amount.
Zero children is not advisable, as we need a 'next' generation to carry on, and we will need support in our aging years.
All this of course is, even if possible, not an option because humankind is way too selfish or way too ignorant.
Even if the Western Countries came into line, there are many more Asian Countries that would fight to the death before they would be told they could not have more than one child, even though it will hasten both them and their children's death if they did not comply.
And worst of all, let's not forget Islam and it's teachings.
If the Koran has it written in it's pages, we might actually stand a chance, but when your, so called 'bible' says get out there and copulate as much as you can and produce as many children as you can, WE have a problem.
Somehow I feel we are being led over a cliff by a blind guide, some of which are here on OLO.
It is so frustrating when you can see a problem, and you can see how to fix it, but for all the wrong reasons, they are all ignored.
Ah well, I will be dead soon so it won't affect me, but it will affect those I leave behind, and that is the heart wrenching part of this whole debacle.

David F- Thanks for your challenge to come up with my preferred solution for population control. I would prefer benign forms over less benign but in the end there must be action. Population mismanagement is not so much of an issue for the Traditional British Australian people- we seem to have been fairly responsible in this regard.

Generally I believe in national sovereignty and non-interference with other nations internal affairs. However national population mismanagement as Belly has succinctly put is apparently the cause of refugee and immigration activity- and this population issue seems to have overflowed the boundaries of national borders.

We may not have "a right" to interfere with the internal affairs of a country but we do have "a right" to stop the results of these internal affairs from passing our borders.

We should also be acting diplomatically to address the population problem knowing that if more countries refuse to accept people from these nations that the pressure to act within these countries will continue to rise.

By giving these countries a pressure release valve without addressing the underlying problem we are probably creating a future world wide disaster. Organisations cannot be allowed to become too big too fail.

There is a risk of war and low level conflict with neighbouring countries as internal pressure rises. There is a risk of enmity between high population countries and Australia as a result of our attempts to address the problem diplomatically.

I would attempt to create policies that aim to freeze cultural osmosis across national borders.

Joseph Nye talked about Hard and Soft Power- we can use hard power at our borders and the soft power of "education" and "setting a good example " on how the west is able to achieve high standards of lifestyle based on managing our resources- in this case managing our population over the existing land area.