The Study of the Egyptian Social Movement with Emphasis on the Role of Youth and Demographic Structure

One of the factor behind the social movements in Egypt has been the demographic structure of this country, especially the role of the young population in this development. In 2011, there was a new protest movement in Egypt which had previously been thought by few to be likely to form. In examining the factors shaping the popular protests of 2011 in Arabic countries of the Middle East and North of Africa, several factors are emphasized that include; fragile structure of dictatorial regimes, external affiliations, broad class gap and undermining the human rights and young people. A variety of discontent in the younger generation of Egyptians eventually led to the fall of Hosni Mubarak in 2011. These issues are mainly embedded in the demographic structure of this country. Hence, this paper examines the role of structural factors especially the younger generation of Egyptian in the recent developments in this country.
The main question this research attempts to address is that what is the reason for the active role of the youth in the recent movements of Egypt? To answer this question, two points should be evaluated; the adaptation of free economic policies plus the expansion of higher education and technological developments on one hand and the lack of political developments and the lack of civil and parties freedom on the other hand, that led the Egyptian youngers to face relative deprivation over the years. In other words, the greater distance between value expectations and value capabilities eventually results in greater sense of deprivation and relative injustice.