Increasing problems posed by climate change, ecological disruptions, diminishing resources (like water and oil), population growth, hunger and poverty are rapidly reaching a point where dramatic worldwide changes in priorities are required to forestall global chaos.
Recognition of human values and inclinations are now prevalent among young educated people in the Middle East (20 to 30 percent of the population)--who are beginning to achieve a broad support base toward reaching a critical mass as traditional rulers and their followers work hard to maintain the status quo.
The prevailing societal trends of unlimited economic growth and unbalanced material consumption are not sustainable. People and cultures are coming together, utilizing the Internet's social networking, to communicate openly and honor one another as part of a global family, regardless of differences in race, religion or nationality. Cooperation among nations can now begin to supersede conflict.
This worldwide shift in values and assumptions/beliefs in the Middle East is part of a broader change that includes far-reaching cultural, economic and political restructuring of society. Such a shift happened in Europe during the Renaissance and also much earlier in ancient Greece. Decay and rebirth are characteristics of all forms of evolution, whether biological or cultural. This time it is happening globally and may occur rapidly---over several decades rather than one or two centuries.
Leading a community, country or business transition through a cultural change is a tough assignment. Getting the people side right can make all the difference. Cultural transitions are times of heightened emotion where perceptions, feelings and hunches trump logic.
These young citizen leaders know and science has discovered emotionality's deeper purpose: the timeworn mechanisms of emotion allow two human beings to receive the contents of each other's minds. With the Internet available today to more than a billion users, these concerned citizen leaders are now better able both to communicate with one another and to act as a unified force in Middle Eastern countries.
Don Edward Beck: Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership and Change