The Ncar East in the 21st Century
Abstract
Although an 'avalanche of people' may be expected in thenear future lillie confidence seems to be justified with respect toa peaceful and prosperous development in the Near East. Politicalantagonism, often fuelled by religious intolerance threatei!Sor even pre1·ents the evaluation of promising opportunities atthis huge area between the Old World continents which couldotlwwise benefit so much from the by-passing great world trafficroutes.References
Kenichi Ohmae: Macht der Triade, Wiesbaden 1985;
John Friedmann: The World city Hypothesis (in Development
and Change 17, p. 69-83, 1996. Both papers are
early surveys of the world system and its core-regions.
Older data after M. & E. Wohlfahrt: Das neue /fgypten;
Berlin 1962, p. 375; recent figures after Fisher-Wcltalmanach
and other statistics.
Robert Malthus a British philosopher stated some 250
years ago that populations would grow at a geometric
rate (exponentially) whereas their means of subsistence
increase only arithmetically. Nature and human society
provide the calamities that keep populations in check.
This thesis might find confirmation in the Near East. A
solution of the population problems through emigration
of the necessary numbers will be impossible.
Hijrah means 'emigration' and is known from the prophet
Mohammed's emigration to Medinah. In Arabia
this term is used generally for migrations of people, not
wholly voluntary, to new settlements.
Transit between Egypt and Jordan through Israel is legally
possible. There was, however, no bigger use made
of this possibility when the present author visited Northern
Sinai in 1997.
Hans Bobek: fran (Frankfurt 1962, p. 9). Bobek states
his argument in connection with his theory of oriental
'rental capitalism'.
Wigand Ritter: Leichtindustrie und produzierendes Gewerbe
in den kleinen arabishen Golfstaaten. Tn: Wiirzburger
Geogr. Manuskripte 36, 1995, p. 115-126, not 122f.
Wigand Ritter: Die arabishe Halbinsel im We/thande/. In:
Gcogr. Rundschau 1999/11, p. 613-617.
Wigand Ritter: A Transrapid-Network for the Near East?
In : Promet II, Portoroz-Trieste 1999, p. 129-133.
The functioning and the technical conditions of the
North-American transcontinental land-bridges are discussed
in: Markus Exler: Containe!Verkehr, Niirnberg
, p. 131ff.
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