From The Economist
2010 could be a year that sparks unrest
IF THE world appears to have escaped relatively unscathed by social unrest in 2009, despite suffering the worst recession since the 1930s, it might just prove the lull before the storm. Despite a tentative global recovery, for many people around the world economic and social conditions will continue to deteriorate in 2010.
Early in 2009, some news outlets predicted what they were calling the ‘Summer of Rage.’ The predictions never came to fruition, but the economic situations faced by real people are showing few signs of actual improvement. The Economist lists perceived inequality of income as a great destabilizer, and predictably points to struggling and failed states as having the greatest risk of social unrest. However, they would be remiss not to consider the divide growing in the industrialized world. Real unemployment has not improved in the United States, while bankers on Wall Street and leaders of too-big-to-fail financial institutions opt to pay themselves lavish bonuses, in some cases hitting record highs.
While the political and social atmospheres in industrialized nations are more calm, when compared to those labeled with as having a very high risk of social unrest, some destabilizers, as mentioned by the economist, are growing. While the results may not be bloody in the industrialized world, social and political turmoil are not out of the picture entirely.
