11/7/2015 Winners And Losers After Arab Spring http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/winnersandlosersafterarabspring 1/3 Where the votes are: Crowds jostle to vote in rural Tunisia (top); Egyptian women queue up to cast ballot Governance programs emphasize women and youth – based on assumptions that are only partly true. Each political transition underway since the Arab Spring has its own characteristics, reports a group of researchers who conducted post election surveys in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. The international community should resist applying stereotypical responses. “A onesizefitsall approach to the transition processes – and particularly to development assistance aimed at fostering democratization – is unlikely to be effective,” explain Lindsay Benstead of Portland State University; Ellen Lust, Yale University; Dhafer Malouche, ESSAI; Gamal Soltan, AUC; and Jakob Wichmann, JMW Consulting. Instead, government assistance should be applied on a casebycase basis, including expanded focus on the less educated and rural classes and ensuring that increased participation in elections contributes to new voices on policies. Greater understanding of needs for many specific interests, both the sidelined and enfranchised, inside each country and beyond could help build compromise required for democratic process and prevent violent response. – YaleGlobal Surveys in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia show variations in who’s empowered or sidelined Lindsay J. Benstead, Ellen M. Lust, Dhafer Malouche, Gamal Soltan, Jakob Wichmann YaleGlobal, 27 August 2013 TRIPOLI: Transitions in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia have yet to extend opportunities for political participation and good governance. Frustration with the slow, halting progress in bringing representative democracy there might lead foreigners to recommend a procrustean solution, but what the countries need is a differentiated approach. The ouster of President Mohamed Morsi and the violent repression of his supporters in Egypt highlight the fragility of representative institutions visàvis the ideological divide and conflicting interests. Tunisia has seen its share of economic and political struggles. While its transition process has been the most successful to date, the hard task of ratifying the constitution and holding elections lies ahead. Libya faces the challenge of armed militias and building the capacity and legitimacy of state institutions. Behind headlines focusing on national struggles lurk differences in who is empowered, who is sidelined, in the transition processes. The challenges and possibilities for international efforts aimed at strengthening democratic politics are not uniform across the countries. Findings from the Transitional Governance Project (http://www.transitionalgovernanceproject.org) , a series of postelection surveys conducted in Tunisia 1 and Egypt 2 in fall 2012, and Libya 3 in spring 2013, reveal three lessons: the need to expand the focus on women and youth to greater attention to disenfranchised rural and lesseducated citizens; the need to distinguish between sidelined groups whose preference across critical issues match their more engaged counterparts and sidelined groups whose viewpoints are not represented; the need to understand the significant differences across countries among the groups that are enfranchised or sidelined in the transition process. A onesizefitsall approach to the transition processes – and particularly to development assistance aimed at fostering democratization – is unlikely to be effective. Governance programs today place heavy emphasis on women and youth. Three assumptions underpin this approach: first, that youth have been under represented, and could mobilize and undermine stability; second, that women are sidelined and underrepresented in the public sphere; and third, that women and youth have needs and preferences not otherwise met. But these assumptions are only partly true. A large number of youth are mobilized, but so too are middle and older groups. In both Egypt and Tunisia, youths participate to the same extent in political parties and to a lesser extent in elections. In Libya, youth participated more in elections; 76 percent voted, compared to 67 percent of those aged 30 and older. Women are generally excluded before and after transitions. In both Egypt as well as Tunisia, women are less engaged in political parties and participate less in elections. The gap between men and women voting in Egypt has decreased following the revolution, but the opposite holds true in Tunisia, where Published on YaleGlobal Online Magazine (http://yaleglobal.yale.edu (http://yaleglobal.yale.edu) ) Home (/) > Winners and Losers After Arab Spring Winners and Losers After Arab Spring