It seem I think the op-ed misses a primary cause: lack of jobs for a bulging youth population. (It claims education is a problem, but in Egypt the population is actually pretty well-educated). In this respect, these revolutions are part and parcel of the protests against “austerity” in Greece, and even the protests in Wisconsin. We are living in a world where wealth inequality is greater than at any time since the Great Depression… a period that also brought about huge political instability. Everywhere in the world, most people are getting poorer, and unemployment remains soaring, but a small group of wealthy people are getting even richer.
In the middle east, those wealthy people are simply the rulers of the countries; in Europe and America they’re more diffuse and their actions are more effectively coded (“austerity” and “fiscal responsibility” sound nice, don’t they).
But of course, it’s not just economics (I’m not a Marxist). I think a critical mass of people in these countries, mostly young people, have become aware of the ridiculousness of living in de facto monarchies while the rest of the world has governments that are at least somewhat accountable to their people. Al Jazeera also deserves tons of credit for spreading this notion and fanning the flames of revolution; and it looks like the Internet has played a large role in organizing the movements and documenting abuses. So in this respect, the revolutions remind me mostly of the American revolution and European revolutions against monarchies, which took place of increasing global awareness and media distribution.