Arab Youth Conditions, Views and Aspirations: Political Engagement

Abstract

The year 2011 saw an unprecedented number of uprisings shaking the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), where two out of three people are under 30 making up the largest segment of society with more than 100 million in total. Although considerable numbers of Arab youth were at the forefront of the popular protests that mobilised processes of transition and have remained the most dynamic social actor, little (albeit increasing) attention has been paid to young people themselves in the MENA countries, including their views and prospects. As a result, despite the growing interest for the region, a glaring lack of knowledge about Arab youth -and as a consequence about Arab societies- has marked the views of external actors and policy-makers so far. While the common public discourse depicts youth as agents of change and producers of values, the reality tends to show that they are also considered as a threat to stability. More than five years after the so-called “Arab Spring” this panel elaborates on three main questions: In which conditions do young people find themselves? Did the uprisings have an impact on their lives? And are there differences and similarities in being young in the MENA countries? In the light of these questions, the panel analyses youth conditions, views and aspirations in a context of multiple social, economic and political transitions in five MENA countries, namely Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia. The thematic axes to be analysed include education, employment and social inclusion, political mobilisation and participation, international migration, gender and public policies and international cooperation. The data to be presented and analysed in this panel emerge from the “Researching Arab Mediterranean Youth: Towards a New Social Contract (SAHWA)” project, funded by the European Commission under the FP7, which conducted a regional survey with a sample of 10,000 young people and extensive ethnographic fieldwork across above mentioned five Arab Mediterranean Countries.