http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/02/daily_chart_arab_unrest_index
Where the revolution rollercoaster will arrive next; A chart in The Economist discussing the current factors for dissent in the Middle East, trying to put some statistics on the mayhem.
Where the revolution rollercoaster will arrive next; A chart in The Economist discussing the current factors for dissent in the Middle East, trying to put some statistics on the mayhem.
Prodigious output there Chris.
ReplyDeleteI can't claim to have read all of it, however I can claim to have had a couple of glasses of rosé (don't ask) so I feel qualified to comment.
It seems nations with a high youth proportion are ripe for revolution. I have to say though I am a touch cynical of the whole North Africa/Middle East uprising(s).
While they may and hopefully will get democratic-ish governments in the short to medium term, Islamic fundamentalism is always a threat and even apart from that nearly all these countries import a lot of their food, so if global food production drops as some say will happen due to Peak Oil, they could face a much greater threat than autocratic governments.
In summary, good that they're getting democracy, but bigger problems await, unless population growth is stymied (further) sharpish.
Good man Col, yeah it seems that whatever way you look at it the elephant in the corner is population control, a subject few seem to want to talk about. Unless programmes are put in place by the governements in the developing world to curd their population growth they will suffer famine, a rapid exhaustion of renewable eneergy, pollution, over crownding, social unrest, economic ruin and basic bit by bit implosion. There are two hopes, the first is that a governement, whether democratic or not, should impose a programme of family planning with financial insentives for smaller families, the second being an increase in prosperity and education levels to such n extent where the population levels naturally level out, like Europe in the past 50 years. The former seems more likely at the moment.
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