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Thursday, January 20th, 2011

The Next Tunisias

Author:    
Source:     Foreign Policy
Publication Date:     19-Jan-11
 Link: The Next Tunisias
Stephan:   This is why food, and its costs, are such powerful and fundamental issues for governments, particularly in the developing world in countries with authoritarian governments. Unfortunately none of the countries discussed here has much say about world food prices, which are headed steeply upward, so further civil unrest is almost inevitable. That these countries are Muslim just makes the whole thing that much more unstable.

ALGERIA

Who’s in charge: Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been president of Algeria since 1999. In 2009, he amended the constitution to allow himself to run for a third term and was overwhelmingly reelected in a contest that was boycotted by the opposition. Concerns have recently been raised about the 73-year-old president’s health — the state of which is a carefully guarded state secret — and there are rumors that his brother is looking to succeed him. Bouteflika oversaw the end of the decade-long Algerian civil war and has worked to improve relations with European and African powers, but he has also been criticized for his failure to contain an Islamist insurgency associated with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the steady erosion of Algeria’s democratic institutions under his rule.

Warning signs: As in Tunisia, riots over food prices and widespread unemployment broke out in Algeria in early January. The unrest was sparked when the government announced a price hike on milk, sugar, and flour. Thousands of youths rioted in the capital city of Algiers, throwing rocks at security forces and burning down a police station. Algeria provides 20 percent of Europe’s gas needs, and citizens are increasingly frustrated that the revenues are […]

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