The Economics of Democracy
Picture courtesy Colombo Gazette
- - on 10/19/2015
“Want to buy some illusions,Slightly used, second hand?
They were lovely illusions,
Reaching high, built on sand….”
(Marlene Dietrich in A Foreign Affair)
“After emergency laws are lifted, constitutions are drafted, and elections are held, policymakers in the Middle East will be faced with a tough practical challenge: how to create economic opportunities for the region’s teeming millions.” This was what two analysts, Bassem Awadallah and Adeel Malik, wrote in October 2012 [i]. The importance they accorded to economics in bringing about and sustaining positive political change is valid beyond the Middle East.
