Mechanisms to empower Iraqi youth in conflict-affected areas and their implications for political stability after 2017

Abstract

Armed conflicts waste many opportunities for young people's social, political and economic participation, through which they create spaces to express themselves. In fact, armed conflicts not only destroy infrastructure, but also destroy social capital as a result of population displacements in conflict areas, often accompanied by broad ethnic and national divisions, and in local communities. In the Iraqi case, the youth group became the most affected by the conflicts that Iraq witnessed after 2003, as a result of the terrorist organizations (ISIS) occupying cities and large areas of Iraq. In fact, the seriousness of the role of youth in perpetuating the momentum of conflicts at times, or for young people to become victims of them, was one of the most prominent challenges related to youth empowerment, and in confronting this, societies emerging from conflict (Iraq after 2017) must reap the benefits of stability. By making appropriate investments in youth by creating enabling mechanisms at multiple levels in order to reconnect youth to the societal system.