Dr. Marc wrote:

"It's a corollary of 4GW that is implicit in the shift to the Information Age <shrug>. In a lot of ways, it really stems from the question of "how do I [read any individual] get meaning in the current economic system?" We don't get it from working on farms or in factories any more, and they produce far more in the way of tangible goods than can ever be used, so we have to look for "meaning" in other directions, and fundamentalist style religions are one of the ways people have gone."
Issues of psychological identity and the political legitimacy of entities competing for allegience. The ability to provide for material needs figures in ( say -Hezbollah among rural Lebanese Shiites) but it is only part of the package for cultivating primary loyalties. The slow speed of the modern state is becoming a significant disadvantage ( ex. Katrina) vis-a-vis highly motivated, nimble, non-state rivals.