Hacker News Reader

Comment by t3rmi | Hacker News Reader

This looks like a case of correlation vs causation. The author tries to link polygamy as a factor to unstable states. I would say poverty is a far more common factor among the countries presented. A counter example would be Saudi Arabia which has polygamy but is stable due to its wealth.

View on HN

That is true. But the form of polygamy practised in Saudi Arabia appears to be a 'milder' form: only up to 4 wives are allowed and most marriages are monogamous. But no mention of the 'bride price', as far as I can tell [1]

[1] https://www.quora.com/In-Saudi-Arabia-are-women-forced-into-...

I think polygamy just occurs in societies with unequal distribution of power between men and women. The reasons are generally either economic or religious. Poor economic conditions and religious extremes are both breeding grounds for conflict. Polygamy is mostly just a symptom of these two conditions.

Power imbalance between men and men seems to be just as important. Monogamist societies can be just as misogynic as polygamist societies.

You consider Saudi Arabia "stable"? They just had a coup d'etat this month, and have been involved in plenty of wars in the region, most recently in Yemen.

I'm not sure "being involved in war" has anything to do with being stable, seeing as the US has been "involved in war" for the past 250 years.

Also, Saudi Arabia did not have a coup d'etat by any reasonable definition. MBS "purging" his political opinions does not a coup make.

I only mentioned wars since the article was about wars.

But there is no war inside the country. USA is involved in wars, but it is stable.

Older article which claims the link between surplus of young men and instability [1].

[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/03/an...

An article from the same publication with the same claim is not a good supporting resource.

Saudi Arabia is not stable at all, take out the easy money from oil, and hell breaks lose, you should compare same wealth & polygamy vs non polygamy.

As I said in a comment above polygamy seems to be a symptom of extremes in poverty and/or religious beliefs, both of which are direct causes of conflict/war.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com