Binghamton Research Magazine - Spring/Summer 2012 - (Page 28)

(PORT.) Ceuta (SP.) MADEIRA ISLANDS (PORT.)

Málaga
Gibraltar (U.K.) Melilla
(SP.)

Algiers
Oran Constantine

Sicily

Casablanca

Rabat

Tunis MALTA Valletta TUNISIA Tripoli

(IT.)

Athens

Adana Nicosia
Crete CYPRUS Beirut LEBANON

Gaziantep

Fès

(GR.) Mediterranean Sea

SYRIA

Aleppo

Mosul Arbil

MOROCCO
CANARY ISLANDS (SP.)

Marrakech

Bangha ¯ ¯zi

Damascus Baghdad ISRAEL Alexandria Jerusalem Amman Al Bas¸rah JORDAN Cairo
Tel Aviv-Yafo Al Jizah ¯

IRAQ

Qom Kermanshah Ahva ¯z

ALGERIA
Laayoune

KUWAIT Kuwait

LIBYA

Medina Academic and military Aswa ¯n experts often divide ARABIA Red Jiddah North Africa and subSea Mecca Port Sudan Saharan Africa, but MAURITANIA MALI Binghamton’s Ricardo Nouakchott Tombouctou NIGER ERITREA René Larémont takes Omdurman YEMEN CAPE VERDE Kassala Asmara CHAD Khartoum Sanaa a holistic approach toDakar SENEGAL Praia BURKINA Niamey Banjul Bamako SUDAN Aden politics in the region FASO THE GAMBIA Gulf of A N'Djamena Kano DJIBOUTI Bissau Ouagadougou Nyala Djibouti and nations in the GUINEA-BISSAU GUINEA BENIN NIGERIA Addis Hargeysa Middle East. In the map Conakry Abuja Ababa CÔTE TOGO Freetown D'IVOIRE Ogbomoso GHANA at right, the shaded SIERRA ETHIOPIA Ibadan Yamoussoukro CENTRAL LEONE Lagos Lomé area is the Sahel, AFRICAN REPUBLIC Accra Monrovia PortoAbidjan CAMEROON SOMA Juba Novo LIBERIA the region that lies Bangui Douala Malabo EQUATORIAL GUINEA between the Sahara Yaounde Gulf of Guinea PENEDOS DE UGANDA and tropical Africa. Mogadish SÃO PEDRO E SÃO PAULO SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE
(BRAZIL)

Western Sahara

EGYPT

SAUDI

BAHRAIN Manama Doh Riyadh QATA

Sao Tome

Libreville

GABON
(EQUA. GUI.)

Annobon
Pointe-Noire
ANGOLA

REP. OF THE CONGO

Kisangani

Kampala

KENYA

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

RWANDA

Brazzaville
(Cabinda)

OF THE CONGO Kinshasa

Lake Victoria Bujumbura
BURUNDI
Mombasa Dodoma

Kigali

Nairobi

Mbuji-Mayi

to have to negotiate for the construction of the new democratic state,” he says. “The question that lies before us, then, is can they actually negotiate and form a society and a state that embraces two tendencies that are somewhat oppositional?”

(St. Helena)

Ascension

Lake Tanganyika

TANZANIA

Dar es Salaam

He sees the beginnings of that in Tunisia, where he traveled in November 2011. “There’s hope on the leadership level,” Larémont says. “What we don’t know yet is what’s happening at the grassroots youth level. What will happen among those 18 to 35? These are the people who led the revolutions in Libya, in Tunisia and in Egypt.”
Binghamton University • BINGHAMTON RESEARCH • Spring/Summer 2012

Looking to the future

Larémont places enormous importance on the young people in each of the Arab Spring nations. Some of what he sees is encouraging, particularly his demographic analysis of North Africa, which allows him to forecast far less turbulence within the next couple of decades. “While we are in a period of crisis now, what I predict is that 20 years from now this

been a shift of investment in favor will basically pass,” he says. “FertilLake of Morocco, which is comparatively ity rates are dropping rapidly in the Glor Nyasa Lubumbashi Moroni stable region.” ANGOLA and closer to the European COMOROS Ndola Mayotte Lilongwe market. ZAMBIA MALAWI Namibe Lusaka For example, Tunisia’s fertility rate Blantyre Juan de Nova Island — the average number of children The U.S. perspective Harare MOZAMBIQUE Antananarivo born to a woman over her lifetime Larémont seesZIMBABWE Spring as a the Arab Mozambique Beira — is 1.8, below the replacement NAMIBIA Bassas Channel positive development for the United Bulawayo da India MADAGASCA rate. In Algeria, it’s 2.1, which isWindhoek States BOTSWANA interest in democracy and its Europa Walvis Bay Island close to the replacement rate. That around the world. “These are moveGaborone brings socioeconomic stability. “If ments that were initiated by ordinary Pretoria Maputo Johannesburg the fertility rate is 2.8 and higher, the citizens who are basically saying they Mbabane SWAZILAND LESOTHO economy simply can’t catch up with have had enough of authoritarianMaseru SOUTH Durban a burgeoning population,” Larémont ism,” he says. “It looks a lot like the AFRICA says. “If the fertility rate drops to 2 Eastern European revolutions of or 1.9, that means that as long as the Town1992. In that way, it’s a very good Cape Port economy continues to grow, you’ll be thing for us.” Elizabeth able to satisfy demands.” There will be challenges as American In addition, he says, levels of edudiplomats and security analysts work cational achievement are rising in to understand the dynamic between North Africa, particularly for womthe secularists and the more moderen, which enables them to exercise ate Islamists, Larémont says. “The more control over their fertility. assessment that has to be made is Based on fertility rates, Larémont whether you’re going to yield more says, he can predict stability in most results working with these democratof these countries except for Egypt. ic movements or working to sustain authoritarianism,” he says. “And the That country’s large population and old security architecture is gone. In troubled tourist economy will pose the final analysis, what is happening serious challenges to the new govhere is the expression of the will of ernment there. Meanwhile, there has the people.”
Luanda
(administered by FRANCE, claimed by COMOROS) (FR.) (FRANCE) (FRANCE)

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Binghamton Research Magazine - Spring/Summer 2012

Binghamton Research Magazine - Spring/Summer 2012
Contents
About Binghamton Research
Welcome
Briefs
Digital defenders
Jockeying for genetic advantage
The unfiltered truth
Spring awakening
Wall Street watchdog
Principles of the universe demand principled engineers
Engineering and Science Building
Graduate research
Undergraduate research
A piece of the puzzle
Crossword puzzle

Binghamton Research Magazine - Spring/Summer 2012