Is it actually decreasing? I don’t think that is accurate. It’s growing slowly but still growing. As others have pointed out immigration tends to compensate for low birth rates.
That being said, if a turning point was eventually reached when the population would start going into actual decline that may have the effect of accelerating revolutionary conditions. It would lead to a shrinking economy as there is no longer enough consumption to keep growth going. The impacts of this decline will be felt disproportionately by the working class and by a middle class rapidly sliding back into proletarian socio-economic conditions, while the decreasing total wealth is hoarded more and more at the top. This will lead to higher rates of radicalization and increased social instability.
The real question is whether that radicalization will be primarily in a socialist or a fascist direction, and knowing the imperial core it’s likely to be the latter.
The most clearly positive effect of a shrinking imperial core population/economy is that the ability of the imperial core to impose its will on the global south will be crippled. Their ability to maintain their economic hegemony will inevitably decrease as their share of the total global economy shrinks. Ideally a shrinking imperial core population would also lead to lower manpower pool for the recruitment of imperialist forces, but i don’t think it’s quite that simple…they will still find plenty of mercenaries and recruits from lower class backgrounds with poor economic prospects.
Is it actually decreasing? I don’t think that is accurate. It’s growing slowly but still growing. As others have pointed out immigration tends to compensate for low birth rates.
That being said, if a turning point was eventually reached when the population would start going into actual decline that may have the effect of accelerating revolutionary conditions. It would lead to a shrinking economy as there is no longer enough consumption to keep growth going. The impacts of this decline will be felt disproportionately by the working class and by a middle class rapidly sliding back into proletarian socio-economic conditions, while the decreasing total wealth is hoarded more and more at the top. This will lead to higher rates of radicalization and increased social instability.
The real question is whether that radicalization will be primarily in a socialist or a fascist direction, and knowing the imperial core it’s likely to be the latter.
The most clearly positive effect of a shrinking imperial core population/economy is that the ability of the imperial core to impose its will on the global south will be crippled. Their ability to maintain their economic hegemony will inevitably decrease as their share of the total global economy shrinks. Ideally a shrinking imperial core population would also lead to lower manpower pool for the recruitment of imperialist forces, but i don’t think it’s quite that simple…they will still find plenty of mercenaries and recruits from lower class backgrounds with poor economic prospects.