Bevölkerungspolitik reloaded: zwischen BMZ und Bayer

Abstract

This paper explores recent changes in German international development policy with regards to population and reproductive health, and connects these to contemporary dynamics in contraceptive markets. While human rights vocabulary is ever-present, countries in the Global South are encouraged to manage their 'human capital' in light of population age composition and available resources. Twenty years after the Cairo Conference, key documents and papers indicate a discursive and financial shift towards more explicit Neo-Malthusian approaches. Simultaneously, as evident in major public-private partnerships between pharmaceutical companies, 530 Summaries such as Bayer HealthCare, with the German government and NGOs, there has been a revival of formerly discredited long-term contraceptives. Drawing on policy papers, interviews, and statistical data, this paper highlights the considerable interplay between the reoriented German development policy under the name of 'population dynamics' and the interests of pharmaceutical companies in contraceptive markets. Particularly worrying in this context is the almost complete lack of critical scrutiny by civil society organisations or social movements.