The Dispossessed Generation: Youth in the Middle East and North Africa

The Arab uprisings of the early 2010s raised hopes for the development of more democratic structures and better living conditions for millions in the region. Instead, they were followed by authoritarian backlash, civil wars, economic collapse and food and energy insecurity. Young people are often the ones hit hardest by the conjunction of these problems. How do they cope with insecurities and growing uncertainties, and what drives them to pursue their own dreams in spite of being disenfranchised? The Dispossessed Generation is the most comprehensive, in-depth study of young people in the MENA region to date, providing invaluable insights into their self-perceptions and life chances. In this volume, an interdisciplinary team of researchers assess a survey of 12,000 sixteen- to thirty-year-olds from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen. They illuminate the extent to which young people engage with their societies and mine new opportunities from a multiplicity of crises.