Problematizing Arab Youth: Generational Narratives of Systemic Failure

Volume 9 (2013) | Issue 1

“…Radicalisation according to the OED means: "The action or process of making or becoming radical, esp. in political outlook" [15]. This definition however, is extremely vague.…”

“…In contrast, an ideational emancipation, the ability to imagine democratic models that are not copied from American textbooks on political science, has also been seen as a necessary condition to the process of democratization [18]. Finally, a successful challenging of the rulers also required the political awakening of the young people [15,16,18], and the political (rather than militant) mobilization of religious groups. The wisdom of Przeworsky [19] about the impact on perceptions of the feasibility of democratic revolution in democratizing regions was also utilized in the analyses of the opportunities available for the toppling of autocrats in the Middle East [20].…”

“…The availability of new communication media with Facebook, text messaging etc. have been considered to have been among the facilitators of change in the Middle East [4,[14][15][16][17]. In contrast, an ideational emancipation, the ability to imagine democratic models that are not copied from American textbooks on political science, has also been seen as a necessary condition to the process of democratization [18].…”

“…According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) to radicalise is to: 1) cause (someone) to become an advocate of radical political or social reforms and 2) introduce fundamental or farreaching change [15]. Only recently has the OED defined radicalisation.…”

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“…Before country-specific contributions, few recent studies on the Arab Mediterranean youth political engagement more generally needs to be mentioned. Emma Murphy (2012) has analysed youth political engagement from the perspective of political freedom and closes her article stating:…”