Robert Kaplan of
Stratfor,
writes for
RealClearWorld about rising levels of anarchy, particularly in the developing world. I particularly like what Kaplan has to say about the way communications technology and social media foster anarchy:
Various forms of electronic communication, often transmitted by smartphones, can empower the crowd against a hated regime, as protesters who do not know each other personally can find each other through Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. But while such technology can help topple governments, it cannot provide a coherent and organized replacement pole of bureaucratic power to maintain political stability afterwards. This is how technology encourages anarchy.
We've seen this at work in Turkey and Egypt. I am reminded of some lines from poet William Butler Yeats, who in the aftermath of World War One wrote:
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
If he thought it was that bad then, what would he think of us now?
