{"id":14586,"date":"2014-01-22T14:02:27","date_gmt":"2014-01-22T19:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/middle-east-tensions-top-global-trend-for-2014\/"},"modified":"2024-04-13T22:35:16","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T03:35:16","slug":"middle-east-tensions-top-global-trend-for-2014","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2014\/01\/22\/middle-east-tensions-top-global-trend-for-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle East tensions top global trend for 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world’s biggest challenge in 2014? Rising societal tensions in the Middle East and North Africa, followed by widening income disparities and persistent structural unemployment, according to the annual Survey on the Global Agenda<\/a> conducted by the World Economic Forum.<\/p>\n

The WEF, which opened its annual meeting<\/a> in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, surveyed nearly 1,600 businesspeople, academics, government officials, nonprofit leaders and others to come up with its ranking. Nearly eight-in-ten respondents were from Europe (31%), North America (27%) or Asia (20%); 70% were male, and nearly half (47%) were ages 40 to 59. (We provided an overview of the survey results<\/a> back in November.)<\/p>\n

\"mideast_map\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The survey identified and ranked trends on a 1-to-5 scale, with 1 indicating “not significant at all” and 5 indicating “extremely significant”. Rising tensions in the Middle East\/North Africa came in at 4.07; it was the highest-ranking challenge among respondents from Europe, North American and the Middle East\/North African region itself. 45% of respondents cited political instability as the region’s most pressing challenge, while 27% cited unemployment.<\/p>\n

The report added that, while the most visible split in the region is “between\u00a0those who want political Islam to play\u00a0a role in public life, and others who\u00a0want to keep religion and government\u00a0separate, [w]e also see a trend of rising\u00a0sectarian tensions within communities.” A recent Pew Research Center report<\/a> found that, from 2011 to 2012, the Middle East\/North African region had the sharpest increase in social hostilities involving religion.<\/p>\n

“The lack of trust among competing\u00a0parties, an atmosphere of intolerance in\u00a0the public arena and, more generally, the\u00a0failure to put inherently fragile transitions\u00a0on a stable path, are all to blame for the\u00a0increased tensions,” the Global Agenda report stated. “There is a battle of ideas taking place\u00a0within the Arab world, and it is polarizing\u00a0a region whose long-term outlook\u00a0remains uncertain.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The top score (on a 1-to-5 scale) in a World Economic Forum survey of globally significant trends was “rising Middle East tensions.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"apple_news_api_pending":"1713063890","relatedPosts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[],"bylines":[842],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[514,510],"research-teams":[],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-14586","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","bylines-drew-desilver","formats-short-read","regions-countries-international","regions-countries-middle-east-north-africa"],"label":"Short 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