![]() ![]() The early efforts of agricultural technology improvements funded by the Rockefeller Foundation were initially not primarily motivated by concerns about population growth. Politicians saw in resource concerns an opportunity for political expediency in the looming Cold War, while scientists were looking at an opportunity for greater influence. ![]() The relationship of science and politics during this period was rapidly evolving, with scientists looking for greater influence and funding, and the US government warily supportive, based on the contributions of science to helping win World War II (Zachary 2018 ). ![]() In 1949, the United Nations held a scientific conference on the “conservation and utilization of natural resources” which marked the emergence of resource concerns at the highest level of international politics. The new prominence of neo-Malthusians in postwar policy was coincident with the greater authority of scientists in general. But it was not until the 20th century that the Malthusian specter of a population crisis occupied the attention of the scientific community and eventually became adapted to Cold War policy led by the United States (Linnér 2003 ). In 1798, Thomas Malthus published his famous essay on the possible catastrophic consequences of unchecked population growth. ![]() Post-War neo-Malthusianism in the popular imagination ![]()
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