Abstract

The chapter analyzes the political engagement of the youth in Egypt and Tunisia, two countries where the Arab uprising apparently succeeded. Based on an inclusive definition of political participation, where informal participation practices used by young people in the Global South are applied, three main questions will be considered in the chapter: which are the general patterns of political participation among young people?; what are young people doing to participate politically?; and to what extent is youth creating a new political arena? The chapter first reviews the three main components of the political engagement, considering individual characteristics: place of residence, gender and education. Second, it analyses two case studies: youth political participation in civic organizations in Egypt and the significance of rap for political dissidence and resistance in Tunisia. Qualitative and quantitative analyses was conducted with SAHWA project’s data during three years in the framework of a project funded by the European Commission mixing qualitative and quantitative analysis. The main finding is the low levels of participation of young people in conventional participation, accompanied by new forms of political participation, which consolidate a common political arena outside of the traditional one.