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Civic participation and voice

Role of government: Shared Shaped jointly by administrations, markets and society.

49.1Access · regional mean

46.1Experience · regional mean

+3.0Access–experience gap

−0.34How closely access and experience move together across countries (correlation)

0.56How closely this domain follows the overall index (correlation)

What the survey asks: access

Civic events and organisations near the home and attendance or membership; perceived freedoms of expression, organisation, assembly, media and internet; opportunities to influence government decisions and having done so.

What the survey asks: experience

Views on opportunities to attend civic events, to join organisations and to influence government; feelings about these opportunities; expected accountability of officials and influence of criminal organisations.

Findings

The second weakest domain in the region (mean 47.6). Tunisia (57.4) and Kuwait (57.3) lead; Kuwait records the highest access (67.8). Morocco records the lowest access (26.5) and the highest experience (59.3), a gap of −32.8. Lebanon records the lowest domain score (40.2).

Across states access and experience move in opposite directions (r = −0.34).

What the gap may indicate (inference, not measured)Low recorded participation with high perceived voice, as in Morocco and Egypt, may reflect a lack of channels rather than a lack of interest. Recorded participation with low satisfaction, as in Kuwait, Yemen and Iraq, is consistent with limited responsiveness to what participation produces. Neither is observed directly.

Administrative implicationConsultation, complaint and feedback channels, access to justice and the transparency of decisions are the administrative instruments closest to this domain.

Citizens voice

“Get the opinion of citizens on this matter”
Egypt

“There are no effective methods in this country”
Jordan

What respondents said they would change. Open-ended answers as transcribed in English by the survey team, lightly edited for punctuation; attributed by country only.

Figure 1Civic participation and voice: the gap is widest in Kuwait; experience runs ahead in Morocco

AccessExperienceDotted lines: regional averages

Kuwait67.8 · 46.9 Yemen57.2 · 40.7 Tunisia64.2 · 50.5 Iraq50.9 · 39.3 Saudi Arabia46.0 · 35.0 Lebanon44.4 · 35.9 Qatar49.2 · 48.7 Jordan48.9 · 49.8 Egypt36.2 · 55.4 Morocco26.5 · 59.3

Sorted by the gap between access and experience.

A-SCOPE MENA, Arab Access and Experience Dataset 2026, ten states, N = 1,861. Wave 1 · Release 1.0 · September 2026.Image (PNG)

Figure 2Civic participation and voice: where access is higher, experience tends to be lower

Provision–experience mismatchMaterial-access deficitAdministrative interface deficitCapacity under crisisIntermediate alignment

Dashed line: access equals experienceDotted lines: regional averages

A-SCOPE MENA, Arab Access and Experience Dataset 2026, ten states, N = 1,861. Wave 1 · Release 1.0 · September 2026.Image (PNG)