The Poverty of Dictatorship

Perhaps the most striking finding in the United Nations' recent 20th anniversary Human Development Report is the outstanding performance of the Muslim countries of the Middle East and North Africa. Here was Tunisia, ranked sixth among 135 countries in terms of improvement in its Human Development Index (HDI) over the previous four decades - ahead of Malaysia, Hong Kong, Mexico, and India. Not far behind was Egypt, ranked 14th. The HDI is a measure of development that captures achievements in health and education, alongside economic growth. Egypt and Tunisia did well enough on the growth front - but where they really shone was on these broader indicators. At 74, Tunisia's life expectancy edges out Hungary's and Estonia's, countries that are more than twice as wealthy. Some 69 per cent of Egypt’s children are in school - a ratio that matches much richer Malaysia's. Clearly, these were states that did not fail in providing social services or distributing the benefits of economic growth widely. Yet in the end it did not matter. The Tunisian and Egyptian people were, to paraphrase Howard Beale, mad as hell at their governments - and not going to take it anymore.