The Arab Uprisings: Economic and Demographic Factors as Indicators of Demonstration Attendance

• In Event: 1483 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 01. Collective Behavior and Social Movements Across Contexts: Discourse, Demographics, and Policy

Abstract

This article focuses on the role that demographic and economic characteristics may have had in drawing people to the streets and in framing the demands and outcomes of the Arab Uprisings that occurred across North Africa and the Middle East in 2011. Although scholars have researched the role of social media in fueling the uprisings and the factors impacting the governance outcomes of the uprisings, scholars continue to search for patterns to make meaning of the uprisings, their timing, and their regional spread. This article presents initial analysis for researching the broader question: How did everyday opinions and experiences of the citizens living in these countries impact the outcome of the Arab Spring and how did the Arab Spring in turn impact these everyday opinions and experiences in the years following? In focusing on Egypt and an initial cross-country analysis, this paper concludes that the country-level GINI coefficient of inequality best explains across country differences for who is attending demonstrations. As the GINI coefficient approaches ‘total inequality’, the mean respondents’ likelihood to attend a demonstration increases. In Egypt, sex, education level, employment status, and trust in other people, explain twelve percent about who people demonstrating on the streets were. However, these factors and their importance also changed overtime between June 2011 and April 2013, when survey data was collected in Egypt. This suggests that the timing of data collection may require additional context to better apply quantitative analysis to understand the uprisings and what led people to the streets.

Author

• Michelle Sara Dromgold-Sermen, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill