Regime change — a global domino effect?

Tunisia.
Now Egypt.
The cabinet fired in Jordan.
Who is next and where?

Nobody can say for sure, but there are no shortages of possibilities, both inside and outside the Arab world. We see change unfolding and accelerating during the next two years. In addition to Tunisia, Egypt, and Jordan, civil uprisings have also occurred in Morocco, Algeria, Albania, and Yemen.

Often repressed, voiceless, and jobless, public masses are rising in protest against entrenched governments that are corrupt and out of touch with their people. These upheavals are the start of something big, a global tidal wave of anger that will sweep away ruling classes. In this dawn of a season of discontent, generals and presidents-for-life, and all their got-fat-cronies, will be well-advised to prepare departure plans and ensure the safety of the foreign bank accounts they have likely filled with state money and bribes over the years.

This wave of change will shake the world, a political earthquake of a magnitude perhaps equivalent to, or even greater than, the fall of the Soviet Union and its communist satellite states in the late 1980s. Non-democratic institutions all over the world will be vulnerable as the masses rise up in demand of greater individual freedom and more public representation within the political, social, economic, and educational segments of society. Even in democracies, the public will surely make sure its voice is heard. India, for example, is the world’s largest democracy. But corruption thrives at the very molecular level of government, education, business, and military, and the public has begun pressuring leaders for change.

All views expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of InvestmentNews.