Citation

Swedenburg T. Middle East Rep. 2007; 37(245): 4-11.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Middle East Research & Information Project)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

Youth in the Middle East has been a concern of Western observes and regional governments for decades. One root of the problem in the Middle East youth is delayed marriage which have huge implications for the region considering that most are Muslims. The young population in the Middle East also are mostly kept unemployed since too often Muslims are against physical labor. As such, unemployment paves the way for recruitment to become radicals. In addition, the problem can be said as demographic, as there is a high percentage of youth in most Middle East countries. Meanwhile, enough evidence suggest an increase in the number of Middle Eastern youth participating in various ways, in a globalized capitalist youth culture. Western culture has also undesirable input in the culture of Middle East youth as they threaten the youth with the evils of HIV/AIDS, premarital sex, drugs, suicide, Satanism and others such as the marketing of sex through advertisement, which makes marriage increasingly difficult as a practical course of action. In addition, youth in the Middle East are subordinate to authoritarian rule, corruption and nepotism that circumscribe their life chances, as well as structural socio-economic crisis stemming from the failures of state-led development and the systemic inequalities of global capitalism.

Language: en

Keywords

suicide; Middle East; Asia; unemployment; marriage; young population; acquired immune deficiency syndrome; demography; Islamism; socioeconomic conditions; Eurasia; human immunodeficiency virus; authoritarianism; nepotism