Beyond the Impasse? Dynamics of youth agency in times of crisis

ABSTRACT

This Special Issue examines the structural context of the political economy in the Middle East and North Africa in relation to the civic and political participatory trends of young people today.  It is concerned with understanding the extent to which young people influence public policies, social, cultural and economic structures from below, and how they themselves are influenced by these same structures from above. It analyzes the impact of youth agency on social change and continuity in the Middle East and North Africa today.

KEYWORDS:

• Youth
• political economy
• MENA
• youth movements
• participation

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Daniela Pioppi and Maria Cristina for coordinating the P2Y research project. I would also like to thank all country based research groups for their enormous efforts with the fieldwork. I would like to thank the Egyptian research team, Hatem Zayed, Rana Gaber, Alia Alaa Eddin and Batoul Al Mehdar. All articles in the special issue were edited by Kaitlin Jenod.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. For more information on the survey see Åge Tiltness, at http://www.power2youth.eu/survey#sthash.s9ql7zbK.dpbs: The survey in Egypt and in the Gaza strip did not include many questions relating to participation, specifically the ones relating to participation in protest activities, protest movements and questions relating to gender rights.

2. For ore information on the survey methods see http://www.power2youth.eu/system/resources/W1siZiIsIjIwMTcvMDcvMDgvMTNfMTVfMTFfMzE5X0FsbF9jb3VudHJpZXNfdGFibGVzX1AyWS5wZGYiXV0/All%20countries%20tables%20P2Y.pdf.

Additional information

Funding

European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme No. 612782.