As cities and their problems grew rapidly the political environment changed. No longer did politicians run small manageable cities. These were big cities with big city problems and the government structures designed to cope with these problems grew. As the government grew it became the livelihood for many professional politicians. Some would argue that these politicians were corrupt, they would argue that they provided a needed service.
<span>Many intellectuals and many of those working in development believe that the size of the world's population and its accelerated growth is the greatest problem and the gravest threat to humanity. Clearly, the ratio of the number of people to the amount of food available has an impact on nutrition, but how do these two factors interact? At the end of the eighteenth century the British political economist Thomas Malthus speculated that population growth could soon surpass production and food supply. By the end of the twentieth century, this had not happened, but malnutrition was widespread.</span>
