Out with the Old and In with the New

The need for change in Northern Africa and the Middle East is evident because the citizens of these countries are tired of being oppressed by these brutal dictators that have been in power for many decades. The citizens of these countries have experienced widespread poverty and violence that has caused many people to revolt against the government in hopes that a change in leadership will result in a brighter and more prosperous future. Since we are in an age of information, many of the citizens in the Middle East and Northern Africa, most being around my age group, have become educated enough to realize the extent of brutality these dictators have forced upon their citizens, which has lead these citizens to form a united front and revolt against the government . Unfortunately, a monarchy or one-party state is only as good as its leader.  The majority of these one-party states and monarchies have brutal dictators that use fear and violence to keep control of their citizens, while they take from the poor and increase the wealth of the nobility.

Yet, the most important question that concerns us is- how will this conflict in northern Africa and the Middle East affect us here at home? To begin with, we have already seen and are currently experiencing negative effects from these conflicts, from increased tension between the western powers and the Middle East as well as rising gas prices from the conflict in Libya. Although these are minor changes that affect our lives, I believe there are more changes to come, both good and bad. In the global economy today, every nation’s economy is interconnected with each other, so when one economy collapses, it will negatively affect many other nation’s economies as well. If this conflict in the Middle East escalates and spreads to other nations in the Middle East and Africa, it will cause further problems with our economy, and this could possibly stall our struggle to escape from this recession and may even affect food prices here at home. On the other hand, this conflict in the Middle East may result in new governments with new leaderships that may improve their current economies, which in turn would benefit many other economies around the world. Hopefully, all of these revolts in the Middle East are successful and result in a government that the people or citizens strive to have and ultimately have the potential to change the world in a good way.