In the early 1990s international population policy faced a crisis—it was being attacked from the left and the right, from inside and outside, for a range of failings—of ethics, fact, method, and vision. The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo, provided a new policy consensus that helped to overcome this crisis. Starting from the question of how the transition from "population control" to "women's empowerment" was formulated as an international consensus, The Cairo Consensus maps the discourses, technical practices, and institutional practices that made this transition possible and stable. Demographic surveys in particular emerge as a crucial, though often overlooked, mechanism for policy production and stability. Using detailed empirical material, including over 30 interviews, combined with cutting edge social and political theory, Saul Halfon offers a new look at population policy that will interest scholars of science and technology, international studies, women's studies, development studies, and post-colonial theory.

"The book is ambitious, wide-ranging, provocative, and creative in its effort to bring a different slant to this challenging subject." - Studies in Family Planning, March 2008

"Halfon has clearly done a great deal of literature research and supplemented this with extensive personal interviews with people having some knowledge of the topics he explores. ...Halfon's book at least provides some hope that somewhat disparate interests can continue to muddle toward some general consensus goals." - Population Studies: A Journal of Demography, July 2008

"Halfron's goals are ambitious, which works to his favor especially in his rich discussion of the conceptualization of woman's empowerment and its history within the international community....Halfron's work acts as another significant contribution to the study of postcolonialism." - Journal Of International Women's Studies, November 2008