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The Security Implications of Asia's Surplus Male Population
The MIT Press
October 2005
400 pages
ISBN: 0262582643
Paperback
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Non-Fiction
What happens to a society that has too many men? In this
provocative book, Valerie Hudson and Andrea den Boer argue
that, historically, high male-to-female ratios often trigger
domestic and international violence. Most violent crime is
committed by young unmarried males who lack stable social
bonds. Although there is not always a direct
cause-and-effect relationship, these surplus men often play
a crucial role in making violence prevalent within society.
Governments sometimes respond to this problem by enlisting
young surplus males in military campaigns and high-risk
public works projects. Countries with high male-to-female
ratios also tend to develop authoritarian political systems. Hudson and den Boer suggest that the sex ratios of many
Asian countries, particularly China and India -- which
represent almost 40 percent of the world's population -- are
being skewed in favor of males on a scale that may be
unprecedented in human history. Through offspring sex
selection (often in the form of sex-selective abortion and
female infanticide), these countries are acquiring a
disproportionate number of low-status young adult males,
called "bare branches" by the Chinese. Hudson and den Boer argue that this surplus male population
in Asia's largest countries threatens domestic stability and
international security. The prospects for peace and
democracy are dimmed by the growth of bare branches in China
and India, and, they maintain, the sex ratios of these
countries will have global implications in the twenty-first
century.
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