Civic Engagement in the Middle East and North Africa

Seven years have passed since the Arab uprisings, which marked a major push in
civic engagement in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The Arab Barometer allows tracking various attitudes towards citizens’ perceived freedoms, electoral and non-electoral ways to participate in politics and society as well as reports about charity in the surveyed countries. This report provides an inventory of the developments since the Arab spring across these areas providing trends as well as snapshots of the latest survey results in these areas.
The report shows that Arab publics were seemingly disillusioned with the
outcomes of the Arab Spring demonstrated by a drop in the region’s perception of political freedoms and dierent kinds of formal participation. However, in a snapshot of the 2016 survey, the Arab Barometer observes that non-formal ways of participation in online forums, such as Facebook or Twitter, remain popular. Finally, the region appears to value charity and its people willing to help those in need even if major costs are involved. However, the Arab Barometer also observes cross-country variations, which require further study in the future.