The events in Tunisia, which toppled the Tunisian president, due to unemployment, poverty, rule by force and clash with society’s beliefs, indicate the dangerous role that these variables play in the stability of countries, and the urgent need for maximizing economic and social welfare to become the primary goal of the government. However, the monopolistic structure of power enjoyed by some parties in the countries of the region makes this difficult due to its impact on the interests of the ruling party and the whims of its followers. Monopolistic power and the lack of popular participation lead to the exploitation of power in favor of the ruling class and the enjoyment of powers at the expense of the basic needs and welfare of society, whether with good or bad intentions. In this monopolistic situation of power and the Pharaonic view of things, God Almighty said: (I show you only what I see, and I guide you only to the path of right conduct) Pharaoh – may God curse him – said this to his people. Therefore, priorities change and power becomes a source of wealth, plunder and exploitation of the people’s resources for the benefit of the ruling class instead of serving the people and working to achieve their religious and worldly interests. The use of force to confiscate the basic rights of society and freedom of choice led to temporary stability in these countries that harbored a volcanic eruption. Tunisia was a model of apparent stability and the confiscation of the people’s desire to achieve self-realization or even practice the religious rituals that the people believe in. It was an example to be emulated and exported to the region.
Unemployment and poverty are time bombs that destabilize society when the ruling elites ignore them, confiscate the will of the people, and focus on the stability of power for the ruling elites, ignoring the basic needs of sustainable development. The government either maximizes the economic and social welfare of society or maximizes the security of the ruling party and the needs of its members. In the case of the authority maximizing the party’s private benefits, the security concern of the authority becomes the primary concern that it focuses on to establish security and stability for the authority and monopolize decision-making away from the aspirations of the people to achieve the greatest benefit for the ruling party. It considers the security of the ruling party to be the security of the country, and encroaching on its members is encroaching on the entire country, and the country is reduced to rule. Therefore, all variables, systems, and laws are measured and evaluated from the perspective of the security situation of the ruling authority, even if it conflicts with the economic needs of the country. This makes the systems and laws discourage investment, and the sense of security is the measure for all variables. Rather, some countries fight investment if it does not serve the ruling elite, its members, and their followers. The monopoly enjoyed by the ruling authority and its direction to serve it and the ruling party constitutes a fundamental flaw in the institutional structure of the country and does not help achieve sustainable development, even if it leads to temporary stability in the country in the short term. The inevitable result of this is economic growth below the potential of society, a decline in income and high unemployment leading to unrest and political instability in the long term. Whereas if the government aims to maximize the economic welfare of the citizen, all systems, legislation and efforts of government agencies are studied for their impact on economic welfare and are approved or rejected based on their role in serving the members of society, even if it diminishes the powers of the ruling class. The inevitable result of such a thing is an attractive investment environment and high productivity for the members of society and the achievement of sustainable development reflected in achieving full employment, growth in per capita income and improvement in the standard of living for the people. The most important determinants of economic growth and sustainable development in the long term are sound institutional structure and systems and laws that take into account their effects on the economic welfare of the citizen, so that it becomes the real main focus and not the consumer claim of the members of society that they are the focus of development. The growth achieved by the Asian tigers is due to systems, laws, and investment in human capital (see an article in Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper on poverty, unemployment, and investment in human capital dated 12/2/1431 AH), despite the poverty of these countries in natural resources, except for people, who are the focus of real development in these countries.
The economies of the Middle East countries suffer from the exaggeration of power at the expense of the economy, as economic studies and reports from international organizations (see, for example, the International Monetary Fund report 2010) have proven that the countries of the region achieve less growth than the potential of society and weaker trade exchange, the most important reasons for which are the weak performance of government institutions, high bureaucracy, and rampant corruption in government agencies. The low level of development in the countries of the region is not due to the weakness of their economic potential, but rather due to the ruling authority that made security priorities overwhelm economic needs. The Middle East is the least developed region in the world, except for Africa, which the region was able to outpace in growth!! This is despite the availability of economic, human, and geographical capabilities to achieve the highest growth rates if the economic concern becomes the government’s primary concern, even if it leads to sacrificing part of the dictatorial power that some of these countries exercise even over the community’s creed, confiscating the rights of members of society, and forcibly imposing the will of the ruling elites on society, and its conflict with their beliefs, which affects the productivity of society and encourages brain drain abroad. Governments may be able to achieve their desires in the short term by force of iron and fire, but the anger of the people has no limits and it is difficult to stop it in the long term.