Middle East and North Africa Economic Monitor October 2015: Inequality, Uprisings, and Conflict in the Arab World

Abstract

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Perceptions of Inequality and Political Participation: The Moderating Role of Ideology

“…Second, this distinction has important implications for the propensity to become politically active in addressing these worries between elections. Several previous studies have examined the link between both objective and subjective measures of inequality and political participation (Alesina and Angeletos, 2005;Castillo et al, 2015;Gimpelson and Treisman, 2018;Ianchovichina et al, 2015;Jo and Choi, 2019;Krauss, 2015). Our study differs from these endeavours by focusing explicitly on acts of political participation aimed at addressing concerns over social inequalities and examining the association with two forms of political participation between elections: IP and NIP activities.…”

“…All of this underlines that, to understand the implications of inequalities, it may be wise to focus on subjective perceptions rather than objective realities since these are more likely to shape behaviour. Perceptions of inequality -whether accurate or not -correlate strongly with political preferences and outcomes (Alesina and Angeletos, 2005;Gimpelson and Treisman, 2018;Ianchovichina et al, 2015). The perception of inequality has been found to affect the propensity to participate in various political activities (Castillo et al, 2015;Jo and Choi, 2019;Krauss, 2015).…”

The global significance of national inequality decline

“…Perception surveys reveal considerably lower self-reported life satisfaction than in other countries at roughly the same level of income per capita. 59 These surveys also suggest that dissatisfaction was more pronounced among the top 60% than the bottom 40%. Hassine suggests that the breakdown of the social protection system as well as reduced state employment opportunities for the middle and upper middle classes during the structural reforms of the 1990s may explain this dissatisfaction.…”

“…Many papers revolve around the 'Arab inequality puzzle': despite moderate inequality by global standards and no obvious rise in inequality, the region saw considerable social upheaval in 2010-11 in what was widely perceived to be inequality-related grievances. 58 Some have argued the squeezed middle class, rather than inequality per se, explains growing dissatisfaction in the region. Perception surveys reveal considerably lower self-reported life satisfaction than in other countries at roughly the same level of income per capita.…”

Arab Spring, democratization of corruption, and income inequality

“…Scholars have classified the causes of the Arab Spring into three categories. The first and immediate factors are considered to be citizens' discontent with economic injustices that include factors like poverty, inequality, inflation, and the inability of the government to provide employment and other public services with population increases (Ansani & Daniele, 2012; Ardıç, 2012; Ianchovichina et al, 2015). The second set of factors comprises the role of the military, the use of information and communication technologies, including social media, effects of urbanization that shaped and abetted the process of protests against authoritarian governments in these countries (Ardıç, 2012; Jha, 2017).…”