Two years after the Arab uprisings, demonstrations have not seized to exist on the Arab street. Though the role of youth in the events leading to the ousting of several Arab leaders was essential, post-Arab uprising polities have only paid lip service to youth political inclusion. This paper analyzes the extent to which Egyptian and Moroccan policy makers have included/excluded youth from political engagement. Did government reform policies address the issue of youth political inclusion? How were youth included in the electoral processes of both countries, and did youth contestants become part of the new legislatures or executive offices? To answer these questions, this paper provides empirical evidence for the assumption that the nature of the political regime determines the types of youth inclusion in the political process. Data was retrieved through qualitative content analysis of policy-related documents and in-depth interviews with politically engaged youth conducted between October 2012 and January 2013. Results demonstrate that in Morocco, where constitutional reform secured the persistence of the liberal, executive monarchy, the regime continues to follow its old strategy of ‘divide et impera’: By including moderate youth from different ends of the political spectrum accepting to participate within the boundaries of the existing political system. On the other hand, it marginalizes youth activists from the radical left and Islamist movements who oppose the monarchial institution. In Egypt, on the other hand, the rise to power of the Islamists has opened new possibilities of participation for Islamist youth, while sidelining liberal and leftist youth. The paper concludes that the Moroccan strategy is presently more successful in preventing the emergence of new youth protests, whereas in Egypt, more youth tumult is expected to rise. This research will add to the existing literature, through analyzing both youth political participation, and the existing power relations within these polities. Scholarship focusing on youth in the Arab world often focuses on youth in terms of similarities and shared experiences of exclusion (Murphy 2012). While these studies have the advantage of unveiling societal and socioeconomic reasons for their political exclusion, they often neglect the role of politics. As past research has shown, authoritarian regimes secure their survival through recourse to “selective participation”, coopting parts of the political spectrum to increase their legitimacy, while marginalizing others (Lust-Oskar & Zerhouni 2008). This implies that, youth participation – as any other societal group – cannot be analyzed independently from existing power relations in a political order.

Two years after the 25th January “revolution” in Egypt, youth have shifted their forms of political engagement. Prior to and during the “revolution”, youth activists had participated informally in the political sphere, through protest movements. This engagement method was beyond the mainstream channels of civic and political engagement like civil society organizations, or political parties for instance. After the “revolution”, this type of engagement witnessed a change to three main trends: a) continuation of informal involvement in politics, b) turning to formal political participation through forming political parties, joining newly-established parties, or candidacy in parliamentary elections; c) disengagement from the political sphere. Building on in-depth semi-structured interviews, this paper will analyze the reasons behind each trend. The paper argues that youth idealism of the public good, in addition to the perception of the possibilities offered for political inclusion, constitutes the form and degree of political participation that ensues. In doing so, the paper will, first, discuss relevant theoretical approaches towards political participation. Second, it will analyze the political context in pre- and post-“revolutionary” Egypt. Third, it will analyze which mode of engagement/disengagement is most likely to be articulated in the future.

Since January 2011, the ‘Arab’ region has been shaken by a wave of political unrest. The protest movements that took place throughout the region were largely led by the youth. The so called ‘Arab spring’ portrayed the image of a young generation that is eager to contribute to introducing change in their countries. Inspired by the events in Tunisia and Egypt, a group of online activists organized themselves in a movement called February 20th and called the Moroccan to the streets. The youth called for more democracy, freedom and social justice, thus stepping from a passive stand to playing a more active role in defining their future. The massive implication of the youth in protest movements is very much revealing of the limits of the thesis which says that the youth in Morocco are depoliticised, uninvolved and apathetic (Bourqia, El harras, Rachick and others). Rather than a ‘lost’ of interest in politics, recent social mobilizations show that there is a ‘regain’ of interest in politics among this generation. As it has been demonstrated by recent research, Moroccan youth engage in politics and express their positions and views by occupying new spaces outside of the formal political institutions; they participate differently through manifestation and protest (Chraibi, Zerhouni). Having said that, the existing literature does not tell us much about who are those who engage in politics and does not fully explain the motives and attitudes of the engaged youth. This paper aims at analyzing the ways and motives behind youth political engagement, it will address a number of questions such as: who are the youth who engage in politics? How do they do so? What role did recent protest movement and new media play in youth political engagement? What are the motives behind their engagement? How do they perceive of recent political changes? Finally, how do they perceive of their role and their impact on the process of reform? To answer these questions, the author will draw on some of the findings of a survey conducted with the youth of the February 20 movement in June 2011 and a survey conducted with educated youth in February 2013. The author will also base her analysis on findings from interviews conducted in 2011 and 2013 with engaged youth.

The wave of political unrest that has swept North Africa and the Middle East since January 2011 brought women to the forefront of the political scene. They were on the frontline of the protest movements that contributed to the fall of the Mubarak regime in Egypt, and to the adoption of constitutional and political reforms in Morocco. Women participated alongside men in mobilizing people to demonstrate. They were active during the protests by leading demonstrations, treating wounded protesters, and spreading information by speaking to international media. Through their participation in the January 25 movement in Egypt and the February 20 movement in Morocco, they joined common calls for dignity, freedom and social justice. What is commonly referred to as the "Arab spring" gave women hope to extend their rights and gain further access to the political arena. However, two years after the uprisings, women are still excluded from decision making bodies of the transitional regimes. As recent research has demonstrated, women are regularly marginalized and tend to even loose gains acquired during or promised at the height of a revolutionary struggle (Al-Ali, 2012). Moreover, there is an increasing instrumentalization of women’s bodies. Particularly in Egypt, sexual assaults against female protestors are used to keep them away from the street: women are harassed, attacked and obligated to undergo virginity tests (Rosa, 2012). In this paper, I will address a number of questions to deepen our understanding of past and present women engagement in protests: Who are the women protestors? How do they organize, and do their forms of organization differ from their male counterparts? What are the motives behind their political engagement? What are the risks they face as women protestors? How do their societies, male counterparts and families perceive their participation in protests? Analysis will draw on some of the findings of a survey conducted in Morocco and Egypt in February-March in 2013, as well as semi-structured interviews conducted with women protestors in the two countries in January-April 2013. In doing so, I will highlight similarities and differences between women activism in Morocco and in Egypt, showing how the social and political contexts impact on the type of demands, as well as the ideological aspirations of women activists in the two countries.