The stick with no carrot: Youth disillusionment in North Africa

From Algeria to Egypt youth rioters and protesters have taken to the streets in recent weeks in an unprecedented wave of unrest that is a serious wake up call for regimes that have stifled democracy and allowed economies, heavily reliant on single industries, to stagnate. In Algeria, government plans to raise the prices of commodities and demolish thousands of dillapidated homes has led to a major crisis, particularly in the capital, Algiers, were near nightly protests against government economic policy have been reported. The protests have not only centred on the capital with protests becoming violent in Oran located in the far west of the country. In neighbouring Tunisia, usually a beacon of stability, youth riots and protests, sparked by the suicide of a local unemployed youth, against government's economic policies and high rates of youth unemployment have shocked the nation. Unrest in Egypt has also been reported lately. A bomb attacks outside of a Christian church on 1 January acted as a release valve on long held resentment of the regime, sparking protests in Alexandria and Cairo. Egypt has a history of unrest related to economic problems as well. In the past year hundreds of protests and strikes over rising prices and poverty have been reported. For a large and young North African population which is technologically savvy, well-educated and unemployed, authoritarian practices and poor economic policies are insufficient. Ageing regimes in North Africa have done well to educate the youth in their countries; however, without diversifying the economy and creating jobs above the level of service providers or manual workers and without political reform that gives the youth a voice, tensions will continue to run deep and the allure of revolution and extremism will become increasingly strong.