Recently, two past presidents of the American Political Science Association, Robert Putnam and M. Kent Jennings, pointed to rapid demographic change as one of the most predictable future trends, yet one least studied by political scientists. One could add that demographers and other social scientists seem to exist in parallel disciplinary universes. At the same time, those working in international relations or comparative politics repeatedly encounter issues of political demography, yet have no forum for sharing common ideas.

An important goal of this conference is to initiate a conversation between social scientists – especially political scientists - and their counterparts in demography. It is hoped that the conference will crystallize and systematize the disparate insights which have hitherto floated quite loosely within demography and political science and produce a book that will stand as a benchmark, mainstreaming the field of political demography within political science. The book will be edited by Jack Goldstone, Monica Toft and Eric Kaufmann. At the conference, leading demographers and political scientists will speak about particular aspects of demography and security.

The conference builds upon a previous conference of some 70 papergivers at the London School of Economics in 2006, organized by Eric Kaufmann, a current fellow at the Initiative on Religion in International Affairs at the Belfer Center, at which Monika Duffy Toft delivered a keynote address.