Youth Civic Engagement And Local Peacebuilding In The Middle East And North Africa

This book investigates the ways in which young people engage with and contribute to civil society, community development, and local peacebuilding in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Youth engagement and contribution to civil society and local peacebuilding can play a crucial role in development; however, there is often a lack of effective engagement, policies, and opportunities for young people in policy and practice. This book analyses their experiences of civic engagement and community participation and the challenges they face, across diverse areas including youth empowerment, freedom of expression, mobilization, ideologies, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding. Drawing on cases from Yemen, Syria, Iran, Morocco and the Palestinian Territories, this book offers new insights on how youth not only are shaped by, but also react to policies, conflict, constraints, and challenges. The insights drawn from this interdisciplinary collection will be of interest to researchers of civil society, youth, peacebuilding, and development, as well as to policymakers, donors, and NGO staff.

This book investigates the power of civil society in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), in the context of the post-Arab Spring era, as well as more long-standing challenges and constraints in the region. In recent years, local civil society actors have faced significant challenges from social conservatism, conflict, violence, and the absence of democracy and exclusive political systems. Over the course of the book, the authors investigate how the sector has succeeded in achieving its own objectives despite these shifting conditions, the restrictive political environment and the complexity of the socio-cultural and economic context. Structured around the three themes of peace-building, development, and change, the book also addresses challenges faced by civil society organizations linked to ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversities as well as religious salient differences that are crucial markers of social and political identity. Case studies are drawn from the Palestinian Occupied Territories, Jordan, Iran, Nigeria, Niger, Egypt, and Morocco, and particular effort has been made to showcase original research from contributors who are from the region . This book will be of particular interest to researchers working on development, peace-building, conflict resolution, civil society, and politics within the MENA region.

This book explores the roles of civil society organisations (CSOs) when engaging in public diplomacy activities and their impact on community development and change. It provides up-to-date analysis of the challenges and constraints facing CSOs involved in diplomatic missions and working with foreign donors. Bringing together case studies from Cameroon, Egypt, Poland, Palestine, Lebanon and Libya, this edited collection reflects on how external calls for proposals in the fields of women’s empowerment, community development, education, training, exchange programmes, democracy, human rights and peacebuilding influence the way civil society organisations contribute, deliver, intervene and position themselves in various societies. It explores the lessons learnt by various CSOs in identifying societal problems, understanding grassroots demands, prioritising development agendas and campaigning for peacebuilding. Grounded in a firm theoretical framework and based on up-to-date empirical research, the book reflects on the leadership shown by civil society organisations in development, politics and business and their impact on community development initiatives and local change process. This book will be an important resource for researchers, policymakers, donors, NGO practitioners and the beneficiaries themselves, within the areas of international development, peacebuilding, civil society, politics and international relations.

This book investigates the political, social, and economic dynamics and structures that influence the leadership of Civil Society Organisations at the local, national, and global levels. Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) play an increasingly important role in the political, economic, and social dynamics that shape daily lives across the world. Encompassing a diverse range of organisations, objectives, and activities, the CSO sector is an expansive terrain characterised by dynamic relationships between leaders, agents of action, the communities, and the global challenges that drive their agenda, which span from poverty to climate emergency to injustice to inequalities. Drawing on case studies from Brazil, India, Yemen, Syria, Iran, and Turkey, this book explores the distinct challenges faced by CSO leaders, their current operational practices, and their strategies for future development. The book highlights the roles, contributions, and challenges of young CSO leaders in particular, at a time when they are taking an increasingly active role as agents for change and development. Overall, the book emphasises the ways in which CSO leaders are not only shaped by profound challenges such as Covid-19, but also proactively react and respond. It will be of interest to researchers across the fields of global development, business studies, peacebuilding, international relations, and civil society.

This book examines the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa, and how it impacts young people’s civic and political participation today. The edited volume analyses the extent to which young people influence public policies, social, cultural and economic structures, and how on the other hand these young people are influenced by the same structures. It focuses on the politics and agency of youth, and how they impact social change and continuity in the Middle East and North Africa. The book will be of great value to students, scholars and researchers interested in Youth Movements, MENA, Comparative Politics and Political Economy. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, Mediterranean Politics.

Prosociality is a multifaceted concept referring to the many ways in which individuals care about and benefit others. Human prosociality is foundational to social harmony, happiness, and peace; it is therefore essential to understand its underpinnings, development, and cultivation. This handbook provides a state-of-the-art, in-depth account of scientific, theoretical, and practical knowledge regarding prosociality and its development. Its thirty chapters, written by international researchers in the field, elucidate key issues, including: the development of prosociality across infancy, childhood, adolescence, and beyond; the biological, cognitive, emotional, and motivational mechanisms that underlie and influence prosociality; how different socialization agents and social contexts can affect children's prosociality; and intervention approaches aimed at cultivating prosociality in children and adolescents. This knowledge can benefit researchers, students, practitioners, and policy makers seeking to nurture socially responsible, caring youth.

This book compares the rapid development of South Korea over the past 70 years with selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa to assess what factors contributed to the country’s success story, and why it is that countries that were comparable in the past continue to experience challenges in achieving and sustaining economic growth. In the 1950s, South Korea’s GDP per capita was $876, roughly comparable with that of Cote d’Ivoire and somewhat below Ghana’s. The country’s subsequent transformation from a war-ravaged, international aid-dependent economy to the 13th largest economy in the world has been the focus of considerable international admiration and attention. But how was it that South Korea succeeded in multiplying its GDP per capita by a factor of 23, while other Less Developed Countries continue to experience challenges? This book compares South Korea’s politics of development and foreign assistance with that of Ghana, Nigeria, and Zambia, which were also major recipients of the U.S. aid, to investigate the specific contexts that made it possible for South Korea to achieve success. Overall, this book argues that effective state capacity in South Korea’s domestic and international politics provided an anchor for diplomatic engagement with donors and guided domestic political actors in the effective use of aid for economic development. This book will be of interest to researchers and students working on development, comparative political economy, and foreign aid, and to policy makers and practitioners looking for a greater understanding of comparative development trajectories.

This book explores the interface between copyright and higher education, and their complementarities for the advancement of sustainable human development. In its broader sense, the concept of human development is noted as a set of freedoms and human capabilities that are essential for human flourishing. Adopting a rights-based human development and capability approach (HDCA), this book primarily examines the relevant policy and legal flexibilities under the existing international copyright system, and their implications for access to knowledge required for creative innovation and higher education. Exploring the interfaces between copyright and higher education, this book argues that an unbalanced and restrictive copyright system impedes reasonable access to knowledge, and stifles creative and learning freedoms or capabilities. In effect, a restrictive copyright system results in serious ramifications for sustainable human development. In view of its findings, this book underscores the need for rethinking copyright and reframing its relevant flexibilities as users' rights that are vital for promoting creative and learning capabilities towards sustainable human development. Further, the book emphasizes the complementarities between copyright and higher education, and their joint roles for sustainable human development. Given its application of the HDCA to explore ranges of interlinked topics, this book will be of a great interest to researchers across the fields of intellectual property law, innovation, global development, human rights, and higher education.