Application Question:
What are the key risks to the
U.S. national integrity from high unemployment rates and rising inflation?
The integrity of states is ruled by the
socioeconomic integrity theory. The degree of the stability of any
social system is proportional to the degree of its economic growth
and vice versa. Stated differently, the risk to national integrity
increases proportionally to the country's economic decline.
When the members of a sociopolitical system share
the same economic interests and the existing system produces enough
economic opportunities to meet the needs of the members, they are
likely to tolerate existing differences and work together towards
shared benefits.
On the other hand, when the system fails to produce
enough economic opportunities over a long period of time, the
members of the system are likely to compete more aggressively for
existing resources, causing divisions among the members to grow
stronger. The degree of social cohesiveness will diminish and
divisions could take different forms such as ethnic, religious and
geographic conflicts and at times class warfare or civil wars. If
not managed properly, such sociopolitical systems can become
dysfunctional. If the dysfunction is left untreated, at a certain
point it will take more energy to fix the system than to let it
collapse.
History teaches us that people from different
religions and ethnic groups can be united around one shared economic
goal; equality and prosperity for all. We saw that in the rise of
the communist USSR. When the economic policies of the USSR failed,
ethnic and national divisions took the forefront and the USSR was
dissolved. That can happen to the US if we are hit hard enough by
hyperinflation and currency collapse. How the divisions evolve and
what forms they will take depend on the type and speed of the
government's reaction. It is too early to foresee such events.
However, it is important to note that no country is above the
socioeconomic laws, US included.
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