We invite you at CADI, on Friday, 29th April 2011 at 1800 to take part in a discussion regarding the causes of the Middle East revolutions, starting from Jack Goldstons’s text that explores the link between the population growth and political systems’ revolutionary transformations.

“Systems of patronage, justice, and governance maybe fair or unfair, they may mitigate or sustain inequalities, but if they are working at all, they discourage violence by producing stable expectations regarding different groups” shares of land, power, and income. As long as those expectations are met, societies tend to remain politically stable. It is when large numbers of people, both elites and popular groups, find their expectations are not met that demands arise for dramatic change. It is an unfortunate consequence of population growth that its distributional effects tend to undermine expectations in distressing ways.

In particular, population growth, whether in the context of economic stagnation or rapid development, often distributes resources away from those who work—such as peasants and traditional workers—to those who employ workers, raising the resentment and fears of the working poor. Moreover, if different elite groups have different degrees of influence over the growing population, and differential access to the fruits of their labors, intra-elite competition and conflicts may increase. “(Jack A. Goldstone, “Population Growth and Revolutionary Crises”).

Program:

18:00 Tudor Glodeanu presents

18:20 Discussions.

Text:

Jack A. Goldstone. 2005. „Population growth and revolutionary crises” in Theorizing Revolutions (edited by John Foran).