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Review Essay

Author

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  • Nairita Roy Chaudhuri

Abstract

This essay reviews ecological economist, Giorgos Kallis’ recent book, ‘Why Malthus Was Wrong and Why Environmentalists Should Care’ (2019) to review the debate around population and sustainability. In the name of sustainability and resource scarcity, debates on population tend to blame the poor without adequately problematizing structural inequalities that sustain racial capitalism and stimulate scarcity. This narrative is a remnant of the Malthusian thesis that problematized population growth in relation to food scarcity without problematizing utilitarian human wants. In this essay, I review this book because the author expands on the politics of scarcity and urges us to nurture ethics and the politics of limits. My contribution in this extended review comes in offering a perspective from post‐colonial countries like India, and in the global South more broadly, that align with ‘other’ notions of limits, the good life, and sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Nairita Roy Chaudhuri, 2022. "Review Essay," World Affairs, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 185(1), pages 207-225, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:woraff:v:185:y:2022:i:1:p:207-225
    DOI: 10.1177/00438200211065134
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Philippe Cullet & Lovleen Bhullar & Sujith Koonan, 2017. "Regulating the interactions between climate change and groundwater: lessons from India," Water International, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(6), pages 646-662, August.
    2. repec:sae:envval:v:22:y:2013:i:2:p:191-215 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Ashish Kothari & Federico Demaria & Alberto Acosta, 2014. "Buen Vivir, Degrowth and Ecological Swaraj: Alternatives to sustainable development and the Green Economy," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 57(3-4), pages 362-375, December.
    4. Alwyn Young, 2005. "The Gift of the Dying: The Tragedy of AIDS and the Welfare of Future African Generations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 423-466.
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