World Class Warfare

Why almost every continent on Earth is experiencing social and political turmoil.

By Nouriel Roubini  |  Posted Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011, at 3:28 PM ET

Social and political instability has gone global. This year alone, masses of people have poured into the real and virtual streets: the Arab Spring; riots in London; Israel’s middle-class protests against high housing prices and an inflationary squeeze on living standards; protesting Chilean students; the destruction in Germany of the expensive cars of “fat cats”; India’s movement against corruption; mounting unhappiness with corruption and inequality in China; and now the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York and across the United States.