Youth Bulges and the Arab Spring: A Critical Reexamination of the Links between Demography and Politics in the Case of Egypt

The purpose of this paper is to examine more closely the relationship between youth bulges and conflict as it pertains to the popular uprisings that have come to be known as the Arab Spring. Due to its demographic significance as the most populated country in the Middle East and host to the region’s largest youth population, Egypt was chosen as the starting point for the study of this relationship. Using Bhrolchain and Dyson’s (2007) framework for determining causation, this paper attempts to uncover whether there is a casual relationship between the youth bulge and the popular uprising in Egypt. It concludes that while there is a causal link, it must be viewed within the wider political and socio-economic context in the country and that the youth bulge only accounts for a portion of the frustrations that led to the uprising. Most importantly, it calls for a critical reexamination of some of the underlying theories and assumptions about youth bulges and their political and socio-economic consequences.