Many Arab authoritarian regimes are ready for change
Any well-educated and communication-enabled population will have the opportunity to use mobile phones and Internet to 1) share complaints about torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment; and 2) organize - as Tunisia just did - its liberation from an oppressive government




Governments from Morocco and Algeria along the Mediterranean coast to Egypt, Jordan, Syria and the Gulf will be watching Tunisia with alarm. These are diverse states, but with common features: ossified politics and corrupt elites, lacking any governing principle other than the urge to resist demands for change from liberals and Islamists. They also suffer from cultural and academic sterility – the suffocation of free thought that might seed political and social renewal.

Stability for such regimes relies on a combination of state force and public apathy. It is the latter that changed so markedly in Tunisia. Especially worrying for other Arab leaders will be the fearlessness of the crowd, prepared to confront riot police firing live rounds. Authoritarian regimes rarely survive for long once the illusion of invincibility is shattered.
Immediately related elementsHow this works
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Technology: Oppressor or liberator? »Technology: Oppressor or liberator?
Draft ideas »Draft ideas
Many Arab authoritarian regimes are ready for change
There are important differences between Tunisia and other Arab states »There are important differences between Tunisia and other Arab states
Dictature is not a fatality in the Arab world  »Dictature is not a fatality in the Arab world
History has shown that bankrupt systems, ultimately, do fall »History has shown that bankrupt systems, ultimately, do fall
Many countries of Asia and Africa could follow the Tunisian example »Many countries of Asia and Africa could follow the Tunisian example
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