Coping with Uncertainty - by Jörg Gertel & Ralf Hexel (Paperback)

About the Book

Ground-breaking volume is the first comprehensive study on youth in the MENA region, based on 9000 interviews across nine countries.

Book Synopsis

Seven years after the Arab uprisings, the social situation has deteriorated across the Middle East and North Africa. Political, economic and personal insecurities have expanded and, against a backdrop of escalating armed conflicts and disintegrating state structures, many have been 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?

This landmark volume offers the most in-depth, comprehensive study on young people in the Arab world to date. In 2016 and 2017, an international interdisciplinary team of researchers conducted interviews with nine thousand young people aged 16-30 from Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen. Given how rapidly events have moved in the Middle East and North Africa, their findings, which are drawn together in this volume, are in many regards unexpected.

Review Quotes

'This is a most useful contribution to the understanding of the upheaval that is shaking the Arab world, a diligent investigation whose value is enhanced by the dearth of reliable statistical sociological surveys of the region.' Gilbert Achcar, SOAS University of London, author of The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising

'Youth in the Middle East continue to figure prominently in both political dissent and economic deprivation. The surveys and analyses in this book provide some of the best sources to understand the status of Arab youth in the years after the Arab Spring.' Asef Bayat, University of Illinois, author of Revolution without Revolutionaries: Making Sense of the Arab Spring

'A critically important and sophisticated study of youth in the Middle East following the Arab Spring, the global financial crisis, and recent waves of migration, war, and refugees. It is a must-read to understand how young people maintain their optimism and deeply-held values as they negotiate insecurity and precariousness.' Diane Singerman, American University, Washington, DC

'This study presents the results of a 2016 survey of Arabs aged 16 to 30 [which] offer cause for hope.' Foreign Affairs

'Hopefully, this book will be read by government officials, people working in developmental aid organisations and others trying to address socio-economic issues related to youth in the MENA region. Because it is so concrete, so well researched and carefully evaluated, this study could be a large help in going beyond platitudes to find tangible solutions for the precarious status of youth today.' Jordan Times

'A highly important source for those who would like to read an empirical study and a detailed description/portrayal of the youth in the MENA region ... a valuable contribution' TRT World Research Centre

About the Author

Jorg Gertel is Professor of Arabic and Geography and Global Studies at the University of Leipzig, Germany. He specialises in the field of youth, food and nomadic studies, focusing on the changing notions of insecurity and uncertainty.

Ralf Hexel is the Head of the Middle East and North Africa Department of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, an institute which aims to promote social justice and democratic values through the analysis of current political issues, in Berlin, Germany.