The young people of the Arab world seek to be modern while retaining the strengths of their society’s traditional values. They show no desire to join a headlong rush to imitate Europe or America, and remain committed to seeking influence from parents, family and religion.

This is one of the top conclusions in the sixth annual Asda’a Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey, carried out over 16 Arab countries as the young people recover from the loss of the heady hopes of three years ago when the Arab Spring rocked the region.

These interesting results comes as the Arab world wrestles with finding an ideology to take it forward during the next century. The glory days of liberalism in the early 1900s gave way to the anti-colonialism and nationalism of the late 1900s, before being more recently challenged by Islamism, which may in its turn be challenged by the emerging trend of economic modernism that will probably include social conservatism.

For some years the survey has shown that young people between 16 and 24 years old consider that traditional values mean a lot to them and ought to be preserved for generations, but the percentages favouring this answer have declined from 83 per cent in 2011, to 65 per cent in 2012, and 60 per cent in 2013, coming to 54 per cent in 2014.

It was remarkable that this response was absolutely consistent across all 16 countries surveyed, with between 44 to 46 per cent stating that traditional values were outdated, and 54 to 56 per cent supporting the view that traditional values mean a lot.

It may be that a reaction to the chaos of the Arab Spring in 2011 encouraged a high regard for traditional values as people sought some kind of order, but the counter question was “Traditional values are outdated and belong in the past. I am keen to embrace modern values and beliefs”, which would encourage many young people to answer yes, whether they were liberal or conservative, religious or secular.

This is because all strands of young Arab society feel that they are ready for the 21st century, and very few want to continue with some traditional tribal or patriarchal system as their chosen way forward to the next century. For example, willingness to work online and embrace the potential of modern connectivity and social media covers people from all strands of society.

That may be why the growing support for “modern values” in the survey is matched by many who quote traditional sources of influence on their lives, like the 67 per cent who say than that parents influence their outlook, 58 per cent who note that family influences them and 56 per cent that religion influences them. This compares with 38 per cent for community leaders, 32 per cent for media, 31 per cent for the unfortunate politicians (who must have hoped for a higher rating), 29 per cent for business leaders, and a meagre 19 per cent for TV celebrities (who now know where they stand).

Worrying trust in government

A further question showed a disturbing trust from young people in their government’s abilities to solve some of the major problems they are facing, despite some of their governments’ obvious failures in these areas. Sixty-six per cent of young people were ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ confident that their national government could deal with living standards, 63 per cent that it could deliver economic stability, 67 per cent that it could manage a war, and 68 per cent that it could deal with unemployment.

It seems that the high unemployment, continual violence and war, deeply troubled economies and soaring unemployment have not affected the young people’s view that their governments will be there to solve their problems, which is a potential problem given many governments’ obvious inability to handle these issues.

In this situation, the UAE stands out in the survey. When asked in what other country anywhere in the world would they like to live in, the largest group (39 per cent) of young Arabs across the other 15 countries said the UAE, which was up from the previous year. And when asked which country in the world would they like their own country to be like, the largest group (39 per cent again) also said the UAE.

This strong vote in favour of what is happening in the UAE supports anecdotal evidence and other surveys, which show widespread support across the Arab region for the social tolerance and legal transparency the UAE seeks to deliver to its residents. This is supported by many interviews with people who set up businesses in the UAE, or moved to the UAE for their children’s education or because it is a successful regional hub and business centre, and others who came because they see it as a safe environment.

The survey comments that this trend is supported by the UAE’s strong economic outlook with the Arab world’s second largest GDP, its moderate government coupled with its deliberate support for the ease of doing business, and its commitment to female empowerment.