Some people think our political turmoil is coming out of the blue. Meaning that it's simply a quirk of nature. Others say, no, a revolution like this has to be plotted and planned. Most argue, however, that it's a normal swing of the pendulum of history: the fact that after a period of liberal leftist governments, the world just naturally swings back toward the rigid right. And vice versa.
Well, maybe that's true, but if so, a lot of people's lives get crushed in the relentless swing of it. There must be another answer, something more rational, more meaningful than that.
Nevertheless, I haven't met anyone who claims to know for sure which of those theories of social development are even sound let alone obviously true. I do know, however, that societies that once seemed to be on the brink of developing a global vision and becoming part of the family of nations now appear, at best, to be in the midst of the social-political climate change of the century. What looked like it might become a fusion of democratic, open and economically just societies into one global world view is now spinning off its base. In every direction at once.