Arab worldArab youths reject ISIS, say effort to establish Islamic State will fail
Arab youth say the rise of ISIS remains the single biggest challenge facing the Middle East, but young people in the region overwhelmingly reject the extremist group and believe it will fail to establish an Islamic state. That is the headline finding of the eighth annual ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey, released the other day. ASDA says that while three in four Arab youth are concerned about the rise of ISIS, just one in six believes the terrorist group ultimately will succeed.
Flag of the Islamic State // Source: commons.wikimedia.org
Arab youth say the rise of ISIS remains the single biggest challenge facing the Middle East, but young people in the region overwhelmingly reject the extremist group and believe it will fail to establish an Islamic state. That is the headline finding of the eighth annual ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey, released the other day. ASDA says that while three in four Arab youth are concerned about the rise of ISIS, just one in six believes the terrorist group ultimately will succeed. Though concern is rising — with 50 percent of youth citing it as the biggest obstacle in the region, up from 37 percent last year — tacit support for the group is declining with just 13 percent agreeing they could see themselves supporting ISIS even if it did not use so much violence, compared with 19 percent in 2015.
A quarter of young people believe that a lack of jobs and opportunities are the main recruitment drivers for the terrorist group, although one in four of those surveyed also said they could see no reason why anyone would want to take up with ISIS.
Arab youth cite Saudi Arabia as their biggest ally for the fifth-year running (31 percent), followed by the UAE (28 percent) and the United States (25 percent). But views on the United States are increasingly polarized. While two-thirds of young Arabs view the country as an ally, one third see the country as an enemy, especially in Iraq (93 percent), Yemen (82 percent) and Palestine (81 percent).
Iran’s increasing regional influence is reflected in the survey, with 13 percent of young Arabs now viewing the country as their biggest ally — although a small majority of young Arabs (52 percent) view it as an enemy.
“This is an important survey of how Arab youth – the largest and arguably most important demographic in the region – think about the evolving and challenging environment in which they live,” said Donald A. Baer, Worldwide Chair and CEO, Burson-Marsteller. “Today’s Arab youth are tomorrow’s leaders, business owners, workers and consumers, and the information in this survey helps all of us to reach and understand this group better.”
