Away from the sheer geopolitics dealing with international strategic and diplomatic rifts, or attempting to solve internal grievances of oppressed groups, what raises the attention this week seems to be more around economic crises and poor governance. So let’s drop the Brexit for some time: more than anything, it shows both the impotence of the political elite in Britain, the most rooted democracy in the world, and at the same time, the poor shape of the European institutions, which are ridiculed by the British tango.
This week, these concerns have been sidelined by the news from Latin America, namely Chile and Argentina, and from Subsaharan Africa, from Congo to Guinea, not to forget Iraq and Lebanon. In Chile, mass demonstrations caused by the despair of the urban population have been met by a violent repression, while the presidential election in Argentina is not expected to bring about a solution to the deep economic crisis. The collapse of these two major economies of the continent, following the Venezuelan catastrophe, despite the remoteness of these countries from the Middle East, is a sign of uncertainty not to be left unnoticed. The drowning of these economies and their developed societies should be taken as a clear sign of weakness of democratic governance.
Closer to us, the establishment of democracy in Africa remains shaky, while unemployment grows in more and more urbanized societies. While the scramble for African natural resources develops, political instability grows, with armed groups threatening peaceful rural populations. This shows the incapacity of foreign and local military deployments to check these threats to local populations as to the sheer existence of the states.
Popular upheavals on the Near East, leading the Lebanese and Iraqi folks to reject their wicked political systems and their foreign supporters, are joining Sudanese and Algerian crowds in their demands for efficient governance and popular participation. The announcement of Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s death in that respect is a non-event ; the freeing of these countries from Iranian interference should open the way to the inner reconciliation of these societies and the re-foundation of their states on sound and balanced grounds.
To sum up, these separate developments from Hong Kong to Santiago do Chile, through Beirut and Baghdad, are the marks of the end of global powers, and of the upsurge of local and regional dynamics, in search for new ways of conducting society at the age of mass information and education.
