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JOURNAL OF YOUTH RESEARCHES
The Impact of War and Conflict in Worsening the Problems of Middle Eastern youngsters: A Proposal for Future Social Policies
Introduction
Youth is the most dynamic stage in human lifecycle because its peculiar characteristi-
cs and attributes differ from other stages of life. Age, dynamism, widespread feelings
of anxiety and tension, the tendency of renewal, change of faith, the tendency of
openness, freedom and being influenced by social changes are the most important
features considered as common features of youth. The issues of age factor coupled
with the problems of break away from one another are seen in most communities. The
situation keeps getting worse as various communities fail to come up with appropriate
solutions. Hence demographic advantage is now turned into a crisis. Young people
are characterized by their endeavour to dispose all the pressures and authoritarian
forms of oppression on them and to express themselves. They are more radical and
less willing to comply with the authoritarian rules and laws imposed on them. From
these characteristics one can predict the future of many countries that have youth
bulge and lack of law abiding that can be considered the main pillar of society. The
Middle East and North Africa are the most important examples that can be discussed
in this regard.
The common factors of the vast majority of Middle Eastern youngsters are in terms
of language, religion, customs and traditions, and the problems they face result in the
loss of lives in such unstable environments make the search for youth problems and
suggestions for future social policies extremely important. Therefore when studying
this large group of society in the Middle East, it is necessary to focus on the size of the
group and the problems of the conflict prone to the environment.
The main objective of this article is to identify the main problems experienced by
the Middle Eastern youngsters before and after the war and ongoing conflicts or the
so-called “Arab Spring” and to make the proposal of future social policies. Essenti-
ally, this study questions whether ongoing conflicts have increased the problems of
Middle Eastern youngsters and what social policies should be applied for these young
people. To achieve these goals we:
Research Methodology
To achieve these goals we:
1. reviewed literature on the problems of Middle East youngsters before and after
conflicts
2. reviewed management perspectives in the light of the subject of the study
3. used theory of youth empowerment to propose the most important future social
policies for young people in the Middle East and North Africa
