Adulthood Denied: Youth Dissatisfaction and the Arab Spring

The Pardee Papers, 2013

Many scholars have focused on the political factors (in particular, the desire for regime change and democratization) as central motivations for the Arab Spring revolutions of 2011. However, the Arab world is currently experiencing massive demographic crises, and policy makers must acknowledge the cultural pressures that have left this young generation trapped in a pre-adulthood phase of social status that prevents them from becoming fully engaged with Arab society. The inability of youth to access the opportunities promised in the social contract of adulthood—including quality education, viable employment, and marriage and family formation—has led to massive resentment motivating youth to actively seek change within their country and region. Countries which do not begin to address the cultural sources of youth frustration will find themselves vulnerable to continued unrest long after the Arab Spring dissipates, while the current youth generation runs the risk of becoming socially displaced in a region experiencing rapid economic and cultural development.

2015

Review of Middle East Studies, 2013

Like a storm wind that will ring the freedom bell…"

Mediterranean Politics

The story of the 'Arab Spring' as a revolt of young people against autocracy does not stand up to survey analysis at country level. Data from the Arab Transformations Survey show that young people were over-represented as participants, but it is necessary to stretch the concept of 'youth' into middle age in some countries to say this, there were plenty of older participants, and the protests were aimed less at political rights and more at social justice. Fundamental political changes have been expected in MENA which would sweep away autocratic rule in favour of democratisation, as the values successive younger generations became individualised, liberalised and secularised under the influence of economic and market development and the spread of education, but there is very little evidence that this is what occurred in the Arab Uprisings. Whether young or older, protestors were looking for regime change, an end to corruption and a reduction in IMF-inspired austerity, but political freedoms and democratic governance do not appear to have been at the top of their agenda.

2012

Abstract One of the hallmarks of the Tunisian uprising that ousted President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011 was its broad base of support. To the surprise of many Middle East experts who had previously regarded co-opted and quiescent middle classes as the bedrock of stability for authoritarian regimes in the region, the Tunisian revolution rode on the back of a broad coalition of social forces that united an alienated intellectual elite with the rural poor and urban middle classes in opposition to the regime.

The Arab Transformations Working Papers Series, 2017

The story of the ‘Arab Spring’ as a revolt of young people against autocratic rule and to bring democracy to their countries is not a good fit to the available data. Younger people were indeed over-represented in comparison to the age distribution of the population as a whole, but some of those ‘identified’ as young were in fact well into middle age, in no country were a majority of the protestors younger than 35, and the introduction of procedural democracy was not the only or even the main aim of the Uprisings. There is little evidence for the ‘rising tide’ in MENA which has been expected to sweep away autocratic rule in favour of democratisation as successive younger generations became individualised, liberalised and secularised. There is partial evidence for secularisation but little for the radical change in liberal values and the growth of rights-based politics. (For the latter we take attitudes to gender equality and gendered norms as our case study.) The neoliberal ‘structural adjustment’ which MENA countries have been urged to adopt has failed to provide a basis for such a normative change, failing either to generate the jobs which would have turned the ‘youth bulge’ into an economic ‘youth dividend’ or to establish an independent middle class within which liberalisation of norms and values leads to the demand for democracy.

The outcomes of the current political, social and economic transformations rippling across the Arab world due to the collective awakening and synchronised activities of millions of young men and women since December 2010, will be well remembered by historians in the years ahead since it marks an unprecedented turning point for modern history in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), if not across the world. Disconnection remains the dominant feeling among the Arab youth now challenging their governments, as enormous energy and talent are being unleashed, striving to restore, if not recreate, some of the basic constitutional and social institutions in the felds of governance, economy, freedom, social welfare, culture and media and diplomacy. This paper highlights, accordingly, some current refections on the main features characterising the state of the socio‑economic and political disconnections Arab youth are still forced to put up with, in such a delicate transitory period in the life of the region, and suggests some operational measures for policy makers to alleviate the burden of unemployment and social exclusion.

The Arab Spring has been described as a youth rebellion driven by grievances about unemployment and dissatisfaction with existing regimes. In this article, we assess these claims by examining the characteristics of the current youth generation in the Arab world in comparison with earlier cohorts. We find that some of the conventional assumptions about this generation—that they are less religious, more likely to be unemployed, and more likely to protest—are true, but others—that they are more supportive of secularization, more interested in politics, and more dissatisfied with their regimes—should be reconsidered. Using the first wave of the Arab Barometer survey, we discuss how patterns of political attitudes and behavior vary across cohorts, and cast doubt upon the claim that the Arab Spring was the result of an angry youth cohort that was especially opposed to the old regimes.

Development and Change