POLITICAL ACTIVISM AND DIGITAL MEDIA: EXPLORING ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF ENGAGEMENT AMONG MOROCCAN YOUTH

Abdelaaziz El Bakkali, Elhoucine Boualili

Abstract


Over the past decades, most research on youth and political engagement has consistently indicated a deep-seated distrust and apathy among youth towards formal political participation. This trend is supported by descriptive data illustrating their low representativeness in institutional politics. Moreover, political party leaders have publicly confirmed this growing disengagement in Morocco during recent congresses and public meetings with citizens preceding the 2026 legislative election. In contrast to these institutional forms of participation, the increasing inclination of youths towards alternative- albeit informal-modes of political engagement remains significantly under-researched, particularly digital modes of political engagement among Moroccan youth. Indeed, youth are increasingly forming robust social networks through digital media as an alternative tool for political activism and to challenge mainstream political structures. In this context, this study highlights the transition from physical spaces to virtual arenas as primary venues for political expression among youth. Furthermore, it examines how the use of digital platforms for political communication influences and reshapes youth political identity in the new media era. Third, the study examines political content generated and circulated by Moroccan youth to confront and challenge dominant political discourse. To this end, and based on eight focus group discussions- representing different age, gender, educational background, and political affiliation- conducted with 60 M.A. students in Fez and Taza faculties, the study examines the lived experiences of some Moroccan youth- both digital activists and non-activists- to uncover their perceptions of how their counter-political discourse influences social change and public opinion. Ultimately, the study's findings confirm the hybrid, episodic, resistant, and constrained nature of youth political participation- beyond mainstream discourses on political apathy and disenchantment- towards an understanding of alternative politics from below.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter


Keywords


Moroccan youth, digital activism, political identity, counter-discourse, alternative participation

Full Text:

PDF

References


Andrews, M., Tamboukou, M., & Squire, C. (2013). Doing narrative research. SAGE Publications, Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526402271

Bouachrine, T. (2025, March 1). كلام في السياسة مع توفيق بوعشرين: عبد الإله الظاهرة هزم الحكومة بسمكة! : available at : YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITZUe7qRiz8

Buckingham, D. (2007). Youth, identity, and digital media. MIT Press. Retrieved from https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/26085/1004001.pdf?sequence=1&is

Castells, M. (2004). Informationalism, networks, and the network society: a theoretical blueprint. The network society: A cross-cultural perspective, 3-45. https://doi.org/10.5210/ijoc.v5i0.1136

Castells, M. (2007). Communication, power and counter-power in the network society. International Journal of Communication, 1, 238–266. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/46

Castells, M. (2010). The power of identity (2nd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved from https://cdn.oujdalibrary.com/books/1001/1001-the-power-of-identity-the-information-age-economy-society-and-culture-volume-ii-second-edition-information-age-series-(www.tawcer.com).pdf

Castells, M. (2011). Network theory| A network theory of power. International journal of communication, 5, 15. https://doi.org/10.5210/ijoc.v5i0.1136

Commission Nationale de Recensement des Élections. (n.d.). elections.ma. Retrieved May 29, 2025, from http://www.elections.ma/

DataReportal. (2025). Digital 2025: Morocco. Retrieved from https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2025-morocco

Desrues, T. (2012). Mobilizations of Moroccan youth: From Islamic to secular networks. Mediterranean Politics, 17(1), 41–58.

Drhimeur, M. (2022). Youth, media and participation in Morocco. Journal of North African Studies, 27(4), 611–627. https://doi:10.1080/14683857.2022.2095703

El Marzouki, A. (2019). The revolution is a meme: Online resistance in Morocco. International Journal of Communication, 13, 6034–6053. https://doi:10.18574/nyu/9781479890118.003.0014

Hirzalla, F., & van Zoonen, L. (2011). Beyond the online/offline divide: How youth’s online and offline civic activities converge. Social Science Computer Review, 29(4), 481–498. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439310385538

Kadi, L. (2019). Youth, politics, and protest in Morocco: Voices of a generation. Journal of Middle East Youth Studies, 1(1), 33–52.

Loader, B. D., Vromen, A., & Xenos, M. (2014). The networked young citizen: Social media, political participation and civic engagement. Information, Communication & Society, 17(2), 143–150. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2013.871571

Meijer, R. (2014). Alienation or integration of Arab youth: Between family, state and street. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315028194

Milner, R. M. (2013). Pop polyvocality: Internet memes, public participation, and the Occupy Wall Street movement. International Journal of Communication, 7, 2357–2390. Retrieved from https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1949

Rabiee, F. (2004). Focus-group interview and data analysis. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 63(4), 655–660. https://doi.org/10.1079/PNS2004399

Szadkowski, M., Tual, M., & Clairouin, O. (2025, October 5). How Discord has become a tool for youth mobilization in Morocco and Nepal. Le Monde. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/pixels/article/2025/10/05/how-discord-has-become-a-tool-for-youth-mobilization-from-morocco-to-nepal_6746108_13.html

Wheeler, D. (2017). Digital resistance in the Middle East: New media activism in everyday life. Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474422567

Wilkinson, S. (2004). Focus group research. In D. Silverman (Ed.), Qualitative research: Theory, method and practice (2nd ed., pp. 177–199). SAGE Publications. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232481491_Qualitative_Research_Theory_Method_and_Practice

Yachoulti, M., & Bailla, H. (2021). Youth virtual activism in Morocco: The case of fact-checkers. In Youth Civic Engagement and Local Peacebuilding in the Middle East and North Africa (pp. 37-47). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003183747-4

Zaid, B., Ibahrine, M., Dragomir, M., Thompson, M., Jamaï, A., Chan, Y. Y., & Tambini, D. (2011). Mapping digital media: Morocco. Open Society Institute. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269108573_Mapping_Digital_Media_in_Morocco

Zerhouni, S. (2017). Practicing politics from below: Moroccan youth and political engagement. Middle East Journal, 71(3), 417–432.

Zerhouni, S., & Akesbi, A. (2016). Youth activism in Morocco: Exclusion, agency and the search for inclusion. Retrieved May 29, 2025, from https://www.iai.it/sites/default/files/p2y_15.pdf




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejsss.v11i4.2054

Copyright (c) 2025 Abdelaaziz El Bakkali, Elhoucine Boualili

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The research works published in this journal are free to be accessed. They can be shared (copied and redistributed in any medium or format) and\or adapted (remixed, transformed, and built upon the material for any purpose, commercially and\or not commercially) under the following terms: attribution (appropriate credit must be given indicating original authors, research work name and publication name mentioning if changes were made) and without adding additional restrictions (without restricting others from doing anything the actual license permits). Authors retain the full copyright of their published research works and cannot revoke these freedoms as long as the license terms are followed.

Copyright © 2016 - 2026. European Journal Of Social Sciences Studies (ISSN 2501-8590) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library. All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and standards formulated by Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002), the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing (2003) and  Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003) and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Copyrights of the published research works are retained by authors.