Dubai: Arab youth see the rise of Daesh or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) as the biggest obstacle facing the region. This was among the top 10 findings of the seventh annual Arab Youth Survey.
Nearly three in four (73 per cent) of the youth surveyed said they are concerned about the extremist group’s growing influence.
The respondents also had concerns about their government’s ability to deal with the rise of the group as fewer than half (47 per cent) are confident that their national governments can deal with this new threat.
Youth in the GCC shared the highest degree of confidence in their government’s abilities to combat the issue (60 per cent), followed by youth in North Africa with 53 per cent, while youth residing in the Levant had the least confidence in their governments’ ability to deal with the issue with just 25 per cent.
The statistical graph showed a rise in respondents’ concern when the countries shared close borders to Daesh territory like Lebanon, for instance, where the youth were the most concerned about the issue, with 77 per cent saying they are not confident of their government’s ability [to deal with Daesh].
They were then followed by Libya (63 per cent), Bahrain (59 per cent), Iraq (56 per cent) and Jordan (51 per cent).
Jeremey Galbraith, CEO of Burson-Marsteller, Europe, Middle East and Africa, said the rise of Daesh is linked to the decrease in the desire of democracy, which four years ago ranked high in the survey. “The desire for democracy went down because there are more pressing problems — including Isil — emerging in the region,” Galbraith said.
