Tunisia and Egypt face serious hazards as they rely on democratic mechanisms to mitigate the oppressive features of the rightist corporatism under which they suffered. One hazard is leftist corporatism, in which labor unions and cronies replace the ruling families and army officials, but political control of the economy is maintained.
NEW YORK – The young protesters of the Jasmine Revolutions of Tunisia and Egypt, many of them university graduates, overthrew the old regime because it impeded or blocked them from careers that would offer engaging work and the chance for personal growth. The protesters did not demand more creature comforts or better infrastructure; they demanded opportunities to make something of themselves.
These young Arabs were being stymied in two ways. To get any good job required connections with insiders, something that ordinary young people could not acquire. And securing some type of self-employment, such as selling fruit and other goods on the street, required licenses, which were limited.
These restrictions resulted in widespread over-qualification, or under-employment, but most of all unemployment. The struggling fruit and vegetable vendor Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia set himself on fire – triggering the country’s popular uprising – because he could not get anywhere in this system.
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Joseph S. Nye, Jr.
considers how China undermines its own soft power, traces the potential causes of a war over Taiwan, welcomes Europe’s embrace of “smart” power, and more.
Around the world, people increasingly live with the sense that too much is happening, too fast. Chief among the sources of this growing angst are the rise of artificial intelligence, climate change, and Russia's war in Ukraine – each of which demands urgent attention from policymakers and political leaders.
calls attention to the growing challenges posed by AI, climate change, and the war in Ukraine.
NEW YORK – The young protesters of the Jasmine Revolutions of Tunisia and Egypt, many of them university graduates, overthrew the old regime because it impeded or blocked them from careers that would offer engaging work and the chance for personal growth. The protesters did not demand more creature comforts or better infrastructure; they demanded opportunities to make something of themselves.
These young Arabs were being stymied in two ways. To get any good job required connections with insiders, something that ordinary young people could not acquire. And securing some type of self-employment, such as selling fruit and other goods on the street, required licenses, which were limited.
These restrictions resulted in widespread over-qualification, or under-employment, but most of all unemployment. The struggling fruit and vegetable vendor Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia set himself on fire – triggering the country’s popular uprising – because he could not get anywhere in this system.
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Subscribe now for unlimited access to everything PS has to offer.
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