The Arab Democracy Barometer was established in 2005 by scholars in the Arab world and the United States.   Leadership was initially provided by the University of Michigan and Princeton University in the U.S. and by universities and research centers in Jordan, Palestine, Morocco, Algeria and Kuwait. In 2010, a partnership was formed with the Arab Reform Initiative (ARI: www.arab-reform.net) in order to expand the project’s scope and range of activities, building off ARI’s regional survey work carried out in 2006-2008.    

The Arab Barometer was also developed in consultation with Global Barometer project, a network composed of regional barometers in Latin America, Sub-Saharan, East Asia and South Asia (http://www.globalbarometer.net/).  Like other regional Democracy Barometers, the objectives of the Arab Barometer are to produce scientifically reliable data on the politically-relevant attitudes of ordinary citizens, to disseminate and apply survey findings in order to contribute to political reform, and to strengthen institutional capacity for public opinion research. [More]

A number of cross-national and research initiatives in the Arab world and elsewhere are undertaking to assess citizen attitudes about public affairs, governance and social policy.  These projects, including the Global Barometer and the World Values Survey, are concerned not only with what ordinary men and women think about important issues, they also seek to identify the factors that shape attitudes and values and that help to explain why different people have different views and perceptions.

This work is significant for scholarly purposes but that is not its only important objective.  Responding to concerns about development and reform, addressed in the UNDP’s Arab Human Development Report series, as well as elsewhere, these studies show clearly what people think about the issues of the day.   Studies of public opinion thus help to dispel myths and stereotypes.  [More]

Findings: Comparative findings of all Arab Barometer Surveys in Jordan, Palestine, Morocco, Algeria, Kuwait and Yemen. [More]

Arab Barometer I - Country Reports:

• Algeria: Algerians differed greatly in their views of the most basic characteristic of “democracy”. Approximately half of the respondents stated that the most important characteristic was economic in nature .. [More]

• Jordan: When Jordanians were asked to rank the second most important aspect of democracy, the majority, 72.4%, again chose the social/economic aspects....  [More]

• Kuwait: Evidence from the Arab Barometer indicates that Kuwaitis are strongly supportive of democracy... [More]

• Lebanon: Two possible interpretations focused on politics (Opportunity to change government through elections and the freedom to criticize individuals in positions of power) and two interpretations focused on economics and society.. [More]

• Palestine: We asked respondents to choose which description represented the most important aspect of democracy. The majority (57%) chose political aspects, with 33% choosing elections and 24% choosing the freedom to criticize..[More]

• Yemen: Most Yemenis state that their most preferred system of government is one that is democratic. In fact, according to the results of the survey, 72.1% supported this point of view. At the same time, only 12.8% of respondents stated they did not support a democratic system.. [More]

Survey Instrument

Reports, papers and presentations

* Country report - Jordan (Arabic).

* Country report - Palestine (Arabic).

* Prof. Mark Tessler: Popular Views about Islam and Politics in the Arab World - University of Michigan - II Journal, Fall 2011.

* Prof. Mark Tessler: What Do Ordinary Citizens  in the Arabs World Want: Secular Democracy or Democracy with Islam?.

Media Links:

L'Expression French Newspaper:

* NE VOULANT PAS DES STRUCTURES OFFICIELLES, Les Algériens font la politique autrement, Par Karim AIMEUR

* ILS SONT SUR LA SCÈNE DEPUIS DIX ANS, De nouveaux partis avec de vieilles têtes, Par Idir TAZEROU

Foreign Policy Magazine:

* Tunisians voted for jobs, not Islam, By Michael Robbins and Mark Tessler.

* What Egyptians mean by democracy, By Michael Robbins, Mark Tessler.