Survey Reveals Arab Attitude to Democracy

An independent survey, which included over 30 thousand responses across 13 different countries, has revealed that there is substantial support for democracy in the Arab region.

The results of the opinion poll, which was conducted by The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS), revealed that over three out of every four respondents support a democratic system. Report here.

The ACRPS are a group who “(seek) to examine the key issues afflicting the Arab world, governments, and communities; to analyze social, economic, and cultural policies; and to provide rational political analysis on the region.”

Their survey also showed that a similar amount of Arabs think that a pluralistic democratic system would suit their country.

Interestingly, it also revealed local’s outlook on events since the Arab Spring, with more than half of those surveyed looking back positively upon those events in 2011.

Another element of this survey was the views of the Arab public on ISIL. Over 90 percent of those polled have a negative view of the group.

Other findings of the report show Israili-Arab relations to be low, with the public’s view of US foreign policy also garnering negative outlooks.

The countries included in the poll were Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar. Over 900 researchers in an area of 820,000km helped conduct this large survey.