The world over the next decade will be defined by the Angry Young Man, born amid this historic baby boom, and now entering the netherworld between youth and adulthood, unable to find a job, angry at his government, hyper-aware of the inequalities around him, frustrated by corruption, and connected to the outside world through social networking sites and satellite television. From Avenue Habib Bourguiba in Tunis to Tahrir Square in Cairo, from Athens and Tehran to Delhi and Karachi, the angry young man, fist pumping the air, has become a feature of our world…

To some extent, the rise of the Angry Young Man is a manifestation of the “success” of the past six decades. Educational opportunities have grown. Technological advances connect us all. Thus, the Angry Young Man is often educated and healthy and eager to contribute to society, only to find successive doors shut, but a world of plenty on display on Facebook. The Angry Young Man is not usually poor. The reality is that most young men who join extremist groups or engage in organised militant activity tend to come from lower or middle classes, not the absolute poor, and often have a college education.

This pattern repeats itself across the developing and emerging world, and increasingly in Europe amid recession. In Spain, nearly half of young Spaniards are unemployed. In Nigeria, where 75 per cent of the population is under 35, the rise of the Angry Young Man is posing serious concerns for Africa’s most populous country. Militant attacks in the north have created a warzone-like atmosphere and an attempt to end fuel subsidies spawned nationwide rioting and looting. Nigeria will never fulfill its enormous potential unless it manages to transform the angry young men into productive, employed young men.