The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has seen waves of street mobilisation since the early 2000s. The 2010-11 Arab uprisings were the apogee of this contentious decade.
The uprisings seemed to recede for most of the 2010s, but street mobilisations resurfaced in 2019 in what many have called Arab Spring 2.0. More recently, the war on Gaza has triggered a renewed surge in demonstrations across several countries, notably in Morocco and Algeria.
However, citizens mostly refrain from participating in political parties and civil society organisations, while turnout in parliamentary elections has been decreasing over the past few years.
Why do MENA citizens participate less in formal civic and political activities? And why, at the same time, do we see varying levels of interest and participation in informal contentious activities?
Author
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Photo credit: Issam Zerrok / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect
