World demographic policy: origins and evolution

Abstract

The article reveals the fundamental principles of the origin and development of world population policy on the example of the earliest civilizations in the history of mankind. Contrary to the popular stereotypes about the emergence of the first practices of this policy during the period of ancient Chinese and ancient Greek civilizations, the article provides a reasoned justification for the earlier origin, formation and dynamic development of the practice of political and legal regulation of family and demographic processes. The authors pay special attention to the terminological foundations and the specifics of the interpretation of key concepts in the context of the subject field of the article. Using a wide range of sources, including historical evidence, works of art, statements of ancient authors (poets and historians), teachings, treatises, codes of laws, etc., the article concludes that the normative regulators of marriages, divorces and reproductive behavior were fully formed during the period under review. Analysis of the primary normative practices in the field of regulation of family and demographic processes show the clear link of ancient methods of influencing the components of demographic dynamics with the modern understanding of the essence and content of population policy in its global international meaning. Demonstrating the systemic nature of the ancient samples of this kind of state policy, the authors come to a structural presentation of its basic principles, the history of which dates back to the emergence of the phenomenon of statehood.