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Case studies are all around us in different forms. The example closest to me is the country I live in:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa

It's been slowly cannibalized and is barely running on Inertia left by the previous government. Took almost the same as Boeing, about 25years. We barely have electricity, and now we're unable to supply clean drinking water to vast amounts of the country, including the capital.

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Was there a particular catalyst or just a combination of factors?

Depends on who you ask really, and what side of the aisle they're on.

Personally, I think at the core what started it, is the movement away from meritocracy. Other "things" took priority, and everyone on the ground was left trying to figure out how to not let the whole thing collapse whilst still servicing the new priorities given to them.

This sounds it was a bad thing for them! I hope other countries considering such agendas look at the outcome in South Africa and think twice.

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