Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

The desiredArab index willtranscend thetraditional methodsof measuring theproduction ofknowledge viaindicators imposedfrom on high,seeking, instead, tomeasure knowledgeproduction from aninternal perspectiveand the political, economic, and socialfreedoms. It must do this in additionto monitoring institutionalization andenabling and encouraging legislation, aswell as measuring actual progress towardsthe knowledge society. These freedomsprovide the climate needed to build thevarious branches and types of Arabknowledge and the institutions that supportthem, as well as the laws and regulationsin force and their implementation. It isto be hoped that the desired Arab indexwill transcend the traditional methods ofmeasuring the production of knowledgevia indicators imposed from on high,seeking, instead, to measure knowledgeproduction from an internal perspective.It should search for evidence ofenvironments that act as catalysts to theuse and production of knowledge contentand that boost good governance througha method suited to the production ofknowledge under the umbrella of thesefreedoms. It is an index that would dependprincipally on participation within a broadspace of freedoms, and aim to encourageand utilise indigenous resources and thespread of democracy in producing anddisseminating knowledge and creativityinstead of importing knowledge fromindustrial countries.The alternative index might alsoexplore scientific knowledge environmentsand scientific research in creative waysto motivate scientists in research anddevelopment groups in an atmosphereof academic freedom and freedom ofthought and expression. The index mightalso be broad enough to measure the levelof cooperation between scientific andresearch institutions on the one hand andthe industrial sector on the other. It wouldalso monitor the extent of participation inthe production of knowledge via digitalmedia (Arab content in Wikipedia, Arabsites in the worldwide web) and Arabpublications (the number of independentnewspapers, for example, and the numberof detained journalists and bloggers) and itwould evaluate the state of social freedoms(gender freedom, freedom of marginalisedclasses and the poor, freedom of religiouspractice).The above is just a summary of the broadoutlines of such an index, and in particularfor one linked to freedoms. It suggests astarting point for the observation ofArab knowledge environments from aninternal point of view that comprehendsthe interaction between freedoms andknowledge and sustainable development.It would observe knowledge from thevantage point of Arab reality itself andnot according to indicators derivedfrom industrial countries. This wouldpave the way for the construction ofan alternative index to monitor Arabknowledge environments and synthesisewhat may perhaps be considered thenucleus of a project for Arab knowledgeaccomplishment.PEERING INTO THEFUTURE: TRAJECTORIESOF THE ENABLINGENVIRONMENTIt is possible to peer into the future ofknowledge-enabling environments inthe Arab world in light of the diagnosispresented in this chapter by pausingbefore three possible future trajectories.The first is pessimistic. It assumesthat the state of knowledge-enablingenvironments will remain as it is, withthe continued imposition of restrictionsthat rein in freedom of opinion, thought,creativity, social participation, andintellectual property. Slight improvementsin knowledge performance and a partialimprovement, possibly superficial, inthe state of freedoms, may occur butwill not necessarily lead to an advanced,competitive economic structure based onsophisticated local knowledge industries.On the contrary, the situation will worsen,especially in view of the global economiccrisis, with the continued squandering ofnatural and human resources, includingan additional brain drain and loss ofpromising scientific and university talents.The Arab world will remain, according90 ARAB KNOWLEDGE REPORT 2009