Coping with Uncertainty: Youth in the Middle East and North Africa

Seven years since the Arab uprisings, the social situation has deteriorated across the Middle East and North Africa. Political, economic and personal insecurities have expanded, investments have declined, and income from tourism and oil has collapsed due to political instability. Against a backdrop of escalating armed conflicts, an increasing number of terrorist attacks and disintegrating state structures, many are forced from their homes, creating millions of internally displaced persons and refugees. Young people are often the ones hit hardest by the turmoil. How do they cope with these ongoing uncertainties, and what drives them to pursue their own dreams, in spite of these hardships?

In this landmark volume, an international interdisciplinary team of researchers offer answers to these questions. They assess one of the most comprehensive, in-depth studies of young people in the MENA region to date. Nine thousand people aged 16–30 from Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen were surveyed using quantitative face-to-face interviews in summer 2016 and qualitative encounters during early 2017. Given how rapidly events have moved in the Middle East and North Africa, the findings are in many regards unexpected.