Exporting ‘active citizenship’: Foreign support for citizenship education in the Arab world

The research examines nine donor-supported active citizenship programs implemented between 2010 and 2015 in Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, and Tunisia. The authors argue that these programs, primarily funded by the US and Europe, employ a 'neo-liberalization of citizenship' approach that emphasizes formal participation and technical skill-building over political dissent and social mobilization. Through interviews with approximately 250 activists, the study finds a significant gap between the normative, Western-inspired training modules and the actual political constraints in the MENA region, such as secretive decision-making, unreliable judicial systems, and the dominance of informal power networks. The paper concludes that these programs risk bolstering the legitimacy of non-democratic regimes by encouraging tokenistic engagement and disconnecting activists from their local communities.

• Foreign-funded active citizenship programs in the MENA region tend to depoliticize civil society by encouraging participation based on conformity to existing structures rather than dissent, which can serve to bolster the legitimacy of non-democratic political systems.
• The 'rationale of participation' used in these programs incorrectly places the responsibility for political change on individual citizens while ignoring the state's role and the reality of inaccessible political processes.
• The 'rationale of skill building' assumes that governance problems stem from a lack of citizen skills, promoting a standardized set of technical competencies (such as strategic planning and public speaking) that are often irrelevant to the informal power dynamics of the region.
• The 'rationale of specialized knowledge' relies heavily on Western-centric case studies and English-language sources, creating a power imbalance between trainers and locals and ignoring indigenous knowledge and religious institutions.
• Activists identify three primary systemic barriers that render donor-funded training ineffective: limited access to information on decision-making, the lack of a fair judicial system to hold politicians accountable, and a loss of credibility with the general public due to the professionalization of their activism.

APA

Geha, C., & Horst, C. (n.d.). Exporting ‘active citizenship’: Foreign support for citizenship education in the Arab world. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/ff87174e-8f19-4be2-a529-446fd51f6e00/Exporting active citizenship foreign support for citizenship education in the Arab world.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Geha, Carmen, and Cindy Horst. Exporting ‘active citizenship’: Foreign support for citizenship education in the Arab world. Peace Research Institute Oslo, n.d. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/ff87174e-8f19-4be2-a529-446fd51f6e00/Exporting active citizenship foreign support for citizenship education in the Arab world.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Geha |first1=Carmen |last2=Horst |first2=Cindy |title=Exporting ‘active citizenship’: Foreign support for citizenship education in the Arab world |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/ff87174e-8f19-4be2-a529-446fd51f6e00/Exporting active citizenship foreign support for citizenship education in the Arab world.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gehandexporting, author = {Geha, Carmen and Horst, Cindy}, title = {{Exporting ‘active citizenship’: Foreign support for citizenship education in the Arab world}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/ff87174e-8f19-4be2-a529-446fd51f6e00/Exporting active citizenship foreign support for citizenship education in the Arab world.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }