Fifteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the determinants of civic engagement among young people. The study explores the case of Egypt. While many studies have detected a changing pattern of values among the new Arab generations, few have discussed the changes in values and attitudes of Arab youth following the Arab Spring. Therefore, this research examines whether the Arab Spring affected existing values and trends toward civic engagement particularly among the Egyptian youth. To do so, it compares data extracted from the Survey of Young People in Egypt (SYPE) conducted in 2009 (before the 2011 revolution in Egypt) and again in 2014 and 2016 (after the revolution). A group of panel and cross-sectional models are used to examine the determinants of civic engagement among young Egyptians and inspect any changing patterns over time. The impacts of various potential independent variables that may affect civic engagement, which are measured by the survey, are tested. Moreover, the role of the economic implications caused by the recent uprisings, which hit and affected the lives of many Egyptians, in determining these values are analyzed. To measure these economic implications, a multidimensional poverty index is built for each individual and comprises three sub-indicators: education, health, and living standards. Each sub-indicator consists of a number of related variables measured by SYPE. In addition, the study employs the data of SYPE to investigate the impact of different employment characteristics on the civic engagement of young Egyptians before and after the Arab Spring.