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18122. Sexual Harassment and Domestic Violence in the Middle East and North Africa
- Author:
- Donia Smaali Bouhlila
- Publication Date:
- 12-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Arab Barometer
- Abstract:
- Arab Barometer wave V survey aims at investigating two types of sexual harassment in public places in 12 Arab countries : verbal sexual harassment and physical sexual harassment. Public places are meant to be streets, public transportation and shopping malls. The questionnaire included a question on the frequency of the verbal sexual harassment and a question on the frequency of physical sexual harassment. The verbal sexual harassment is all the unwanted sexual remarks, whistling or gestures in public places. However, sexual harassment is the unwanted sexual advances, like being touched in public places. People were asked how often they have personally experienced this behavior in the past 12 months. Dierent responses were suggested for the respondent: never, rarely, sometimes and often. We investigate first how common is verbal and physical sexual harassment among the population surveyed. Then, we created a binary variable for sexual harassment combining both verbal and physical sexual harassment. This variable takes the value 1 if the respondent has been exposed either rarely, sometimes or often to both verbal and physical sexual harassment, and zero if not . Most of the surveyed people across the participating countries reported that they “rarely” experienced verbal and physical sexual harassment in the past 12 months. Regarding verbal sexual harassment, from 2 percent to 12 percent of the surveyed people declared being “sometimes” exposed to verbal sexual harassment. The highest proportions are observed in Egypt (10 percent), Iraq (10 percent) and Morocco (11 percent). The lowest proportion which is around 2 percent is observed in Tunisia. For the category “often”, around 2 percent of the respondents declared that they are often victims of verbal sexual harassment in Palestine against 7 percent in Morocco.
- Topic:
- Gender Issues, Public Opinion, Women, Gender Based Violence, Sexual Violence, and Public Policy
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and North Africa
18123. ASEAN, Myanmar and the Rakhine Crisis: Two Years On
- Author:
- S. Nanthini
- Publication Date:
- 11-2019
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
- Abstract:
- In 2017 Myanmar established the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine State (UEHRD) to facilitate peacebuilding. Two years on, peace remains elusive. What are the limits and possibilities of what ASEAN Member States can do?
- Topic:
- Humanitarian Aid, Ethnic Cleansing, and ASEAN
- Political Geography:
- Southeast Asia and Myanmar
18124. Climate Change: Re-assessing Current Approaches
- Author:
- Margareth Sembiring
- Publication Date:
- 12-2019
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
- Abstract:
- Proposed solutions to climate change are heavily reliant on technological advances. Considering the initial causes of current warming trends that can be traced back to the Industrial Revolution, a shift in consumerism may provide better solutions to climate woes.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Science and Technology, and Renewable Energy
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
18125. Environmental Issues in the Middle East and North Africa
- Author:
- Jeremy Green
- Publication Date:
- 10-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Arab Barometer
- Abstract:
- In Wave 5 of the Arab Barometer, individuals are asked a series of questions about their views on the environment. In particular, survey respondents are asked how seriously they view the problems of climate change, air quality, water pollution, and trash. For each of the four environmental issues, individuals state whether they view the problem as "very serious", "serious", "not serious", or "not all serious". Overall, a majority of respondents are very concerned with water pollution and trash (70 percent and 66 percent, respectively), while relatively fewer respondents are concerned with climate change and air quality (35 percent and 44 percent, respectively)
- Topic:
- Environment, Water, Pollution, Ecology, and Air Pollution
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and North Africa
18126. Politics and Social Media in the Middle East and North Africa: Trends and Trust in Online Information
- Author:
- Jason Wee and Sophie Li
- Publication Date:
- 10-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Arab Barometer
- Abstract:
- Political interest has decreased and plateaued post-Arab Spring in the Middle East and North Africa, possibly due to political fatigue. Moving from 2006-2013 to 2016-2018, citizens reporting interest in politics has decreased by 11 points. In spite of this, MENA citizens are more informed about political events in their countries relative to their interest in politics. Those with higher education were more likely to be politically informed and interested, but no consistent trend was found across age groups. • Across MENA, citizens have been consistently finding politics too complicated (74 percent in 2018). Besides highly educated Egyptians and Kuwaitis who had greater ease in navigating politics, only minor dierences were observed across years, education levels and age groups. • Almost all MENA Internet users use social media for at least 2 hours a day, with nearly half of them being heavy users. Facebook has the largest and widest spread of users, capturing 74 percent of the region’s Internet users. • Social media has captured a significant share of the political information market, with 36 percent of MENA citizens citing social media as their primary source of information for breaking news. Five-in-ten of both youth and those with higher education preferred using social media to tune into political events. Greater trust in social media over traditional media var-ied greatly across countries, potentially due to the dierences in level of statecontrol of the latter. • Overall, these findings from nationally representative public opinion surveys carried out by the Arab Barometer carry important implications for the future use of social media in mobilizing Arab citizens in political causes.
- Topic:
- Internet, Social Media, Arab Spring, Digital Culture, Digital Policy, and Information Technology
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and North Africa
18127. Social Capital in the Middle East and North Africa
- Author:
- Huseyin Emre Ceyhun
- Publication Date:
- 11-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Arab Barometer
- Abstract:
- Levels of social capital, which is often operationalized by measures of trust, have changed significantly in the Middle East and North Africa over the past 15 years. The 2011 uprisings marked a critical juncture for atrophying, status-quo statesociety relations: citizens questioned the nature of governance while governments grappled with reinvigorated demands of citizenship. These demands were not fully met, however, and peaceful transitions towards democracy did not ensue. Instead, many countries experienced significant conflict, including proxy-wars resulting from interests of regional powers and sectarian differences. As of 2019, Tunisia remained as the only country that is on a democratic but fragile path toward a democratic consolidation. In this context and over a 13 year period (2006-2019), the Arab Barometer can present an overarching picture of how political and interpersonal trust in the Middle East have changed in the years surrounding the 2011 Arab uprisings. With few exceptions, political and interpersonal trust in the Middle East has been decreasing, demonstrating the extent of anti-establishment feelings nurtured in societies. However, trust in legal systems has not decreased as much as trust in political institutions such as government and parliament. These findings suggest that despite widespread lack of confidence in governments and parliaments, ordinary citizens have not entirely given up on existing systems of governance. These patterns are clearly evident in Tunisia, the only country generally considered to have fully undertaken a democratic transition after the Arab uprisings. All measures of trust show a similar declining trend for political and interpersonal trust in Tunisia since 2011. As of 2018, only 20 percent of Tunisians trust the government, compared with 14 percent who trust parliament, and only 8 percent who have high levels of interpersonal trust. However, trust in the legal system (48 percent) is virtually unchanged between 2011 and 2018, suggesting that Tunisians might still be still committed to the system brought about by the Arab Spring.
- Topic:
- Governance, Authoritarianism, Democracy, Citizenship, Arab Spring, Proxy War, and Social Capital
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and North Africa
18128. Challenges of Health Care in the Middle East and North Africa
- Author:
- Kathrin Thomas
- Publication Date:
- 08-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Arab Barometer
- Abstract:
- MENA publics are dissatisfied with overall government performance in their countries. In 2018-19, a quarter (21 percent) say they are completely satisfied or satisfied with their governments’ general performance. In fact, there is not a one single country where satisfaction with government performance exceeds 50 percent since Arab Barometer started surveying in 2006-07. Moreover, ratings have deteriorated over the last decade in a number of countries. For example, a steady downward trend can be observed in Jordan (-18 points) as well as Sudan (-17 points) and Tunisia (-24 points) since 2010-11.
- Topic:
- Government, Health, Health Care Policy, Mental Health, and Public Health
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and North Africa
18129. Resilience in the Face of Disruptions
- Author:
- Mely Caballero-Anthony and Margareth Sembiring
- Publication Date:
- 02-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
- Abstract:
- Against a rapidly changing global environment, societies are now having to deal with a host of challenges to their security and way of life. Many of these challenges had a significant disruptive impact on human security. In the 21st century, how societies respond to disruption(s) and manage their transformative effects would largely be defined by the extent to which they are able to comprehend the complex consequences of such disruption on their social, economic and political institutions that shape their everyday lives. A key element in dealing with disruption is building resilience. This was the key theme of the 3rd Annual Conference of the Consortium of Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies in Asia, held on 27-28 March 2018, in Singapore. This monograph compiles the papers presented by members of the Consortium. They examine the kinds of human insecurities and uncertainties brought on by disruptions, analyse the current responses by states and other actors, and point to specific recommendations on how societal resilience can be built in the face of disruptions.
- Topic:
- Security, Institutions, Human Security, Resilience, and Non-Traditional Threats
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
18130. International Humanitarian Assistance: What Must Change
- Author:
- Catherine Bragg
- Publication Date:
- 03-2019
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
- Abstract:
- For decades, international humanitarian assistance has been a supply-driven enterprise of rich countries funding multilateral and international organisations to distribute aid in poor and fragile states. To be more demand-driven, we should develop modalities that enable crisis-affected people to access the help they need.
- Topic:
- Humanitarian Aid, International Organization, and Crisis Management
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus