Friday, February 25, 2011

Understanding Fear in the Arab world

We can gain insights by looking at the revolution sweeping through Northern Africa and the Gulf from the perspective of evaluating the fear felt by the different parties. Remember that fear makes people aggressive - so the most aggressive parties are the most frightened.

In Egypt there was a refreshing management of fear - although it was present it was controlled, by both sides. In Libya, on the other hand fear is in control and extreme measures are being used. This is the type of environment that encourages the formation of radical groups, that then use fear to propagate their influence.

Hopefully Egypt can convert their gains to create an open democracy. Libya does not seem to have this opportunity yet.

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