‘Artivism’ in the Arab World: a Major Driving Force towards Democracy

Amina Boubia (1)

1 CERI - Centre de recherches internationales (Sciences Po, CNRS)

Long before the Arab Spring, it had already been repeatedly pointed out that youth constitute the largest part of the population in the Arab world, and that this established fact should be seriously taken into account as a key political feature of the region. However, if the economic consequences of this factor have been broadly analysed, it is surprisingly much less the case when it comes to its cultural impacts, which are of equally great importance. Young people have specific interests and behaviours, making up what is commonly called ‘youth culture,’ which is in turn directly related to a number of crucial economic and political issues in the region. To have a grasp of what contemporary youth culture means in the Arab world, we must consequently take a closer look at what today’s youth generally like and like doing – namely the music, films, literature, and art they prefer, places they like to go to, events they celebrate, topics they discuss most often, etc. (First two paragraphs)

Domaines: Science politique

Amina Boubia. ‘Artivism’ in the Arab World: a Major Driving Force towards Democracy. Papers IEMED, 2015, pp.320 - 323. ⟨hal-01218987⟩