Dubai: Before protests erupted across the region, democracy was the top priority for the youth. But after January, so was the desire for stability. Iraqi youth placed the most emphasis on living in a democracy followed by Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait and UAE.
"There has been a pretty radical shift in positions over a short period of time and what we need to do is take a step back and see what youth think six months to a year from now," said Dr Mark Rush, political science professor and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the American University of Sharjah.
But this is not a sceptical statement, he says. Social media gave rise to a positive protest movement "but democracy is a long, tedious process" and no nation becomes democratic overnight.
Rush cites the example of the Berlin Wall's fall — "it seemed to have happened overnight but the process of change in Eastern Europe took 20 years. Breaking the wall down was one thing, but building values and reunification has been a long experiment".
It is difficult to predict what will happen next in Egypt. Hosni Mubarak has left, but his cronies remain and still do business in the country, said Paul Dyer, an expert on political economy of reform in the Middle East at the Dubai School of Government.
He also wonders whether protesters will back down if governments respond with brutal means? Egypt's success was relatively peaceful but with Bahrain and Libya time will tell if the euphoria diminishes.
Dr Rima Sabban, a sociologist at Zayed University, does not think the findings are surprising. "They confirm similar findings we got when we did a study on youth in Bahrain and the UAE," she said.
"We're finding that these youth are optimistic despite all the problems they are facing compared to our generation that lost hope. Today we are finding that youth are giving Arab people, in general, hope."
Dr Sabban also said that the older generation no longer views the youth as the militant generation. Before the uprisings, modern youth were viewed as spoilt and "we did not have confidence that they would win where we failed".
Dr Abdul Khaleq Abdullah also said youth in the region have proven themselves as the vanguards of democracy in the region while paying for it with their lives to change authoritarian regimes. "The previous generation was timid and could not confront the regime."
