alternatives to their rule were a takeover by Islamist extremists or chaos. The presidents of Egypt and Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, were particularly successful with this strategy.

There were many factors which contributed to the sudden movement in the fossilised political situation in the region which began at the start of 2011. Among them were technology, global economics, politics and aspects of the social structures: satellite television and the new social media played a role in spreading the protest so quickly; increasing food prices fuelled the protests by the poor; and some of the revelations by Wikileaks confirmed rumours and assumptions which were already widespread about the corruption of the rulers in Tunisia and other Arab countries.

But perhaps the most important aspect which cangeneration which feels that it had been cheated of its chance to take its economic, social and political place in society, writes Perthes

​​The more conservative the society, the harder it is for them to have a sexual relationship while unmarried. They experience an inequality of income which is growing, and they learn that politics is the business of elites (and often it is truly a business) to which they have no access, unless they belong to one of the families which are allied with those elites.

They go into the internet daily, where they can read in Wikileaks how corrupt US diplomats think their rulers are. They often have their own experience of the arbitrary way in which the police and the authorities use their power against the young,