Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

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and anthropology have decreased (Hanafi,2008). The topics addressed in the socialand human sciences in the Arab regioninclude development, democracy, socialtransformations, migration, governance,gender, violence, and Islamic movements.These studies have replaced studies ofsocial class and the problematics of humansociety.THE ARABIC LANGUAGE ANDINNOVATIONOne of the most important signs ofdevelopment in Arab social and humanscience research is that the numberof Arabic-language publications in theMaghreb increased by 60 per cent between1980 and 2007, while French-languagepublications formed only 30 per cent. Thisimprovement did not include basic andapplied science research, which continuedto rely upon foreign languages (Figure5-9). Among 34,000 papers published byresearchers in the Maghreb during the lastdecade, French was the most commonlyused language, out-ranking Arabic (Figure5-10). As for the Mashreq (eastern)Arab countries, with the exception ofFIGURE 5-9Percentage of Arabic language-use in research paperspublished in the Maghreb, 1980-2007Climate changeWomenModern historyPolitical crisisAgricultureCitiesBerber languageDemocratic associationsSource: Waast et al., 2007, in French.InstitutionsCultural life1Lebanon and Palestine, the overwhelmingmajority of research papers in the humansciences were published in Arabic, whichexplains the dearth of Arab social science0.80.60.40.2In Arabic0AndalusiaLawHistoryLiteratureCommercial lawLiberation movementsEducationPolitical partiesCultural heritageSystems and lawsIn FrenchFIGURE 5-10Languages used in human and social science research publicationsin the Maghreb, 2007Spanish20%English15%Other Languages3%French42%Among 34,000papers published byresearchers in theMaghreb duringthe last decade,French was themost commonlyused language,out-ranking ArabicArabic20%Source: ESTIME Programme, 2007ARAB PERFORMANCE IN RESEARCH AND INNOVATION203
Most Arabic-languageperiodicals in thesocial sciences are ofextremely poor qualityby global standards,are highly local innature, and do notadhere to neutralpeer-review methodsIf we distributed allthe books publishedevery year among thepopulation, for every11,950 Arab citizensthere would be onebook, whereas therewould be one bookfor every 491 Britishcitizens and every713 Spanish citizenspublications in global databases. A surveyof twenty-two journals published during2007 in the USA, Canada, and Europe,four of which were specialised in the Arabregion, showed that only two studies werepublished by Arab researchers residingin Arab countries. Yet most Arabiclanguageperiodicals in the social sciencesare of extremely poor quality by globalstandards, are highly local in nature, and donot adhere to neutral peer-review methods(Hanafi, 2008).In summary, the development ofthe human and social sciences in theArab world remains dependent on thefostering of an enabling environment forknowledge that guarantees the freedom ofexpression and the flow of informationand strengthens the political participationof both citizens and researchers. Whileit is true that some Arab countries haveseen promising activity in human andsocial science research, it is also true thatthis improvement remains much weakerthan the development of research in thebasic sciences and technology. It is alsoironic that while Western agencies showincreased interest in social sciences in theArab world and offer direct and generousfunding for it, such interest is absent amongArab governments and institutions. Thusthe increasing marginalisation of socialscience research drives serious researcherstowards increasing dependence on foreignprogrammes and funding.LITERARY AND ARTISTICINNOVATIONArtistic and literary production occupiesa knowledge space that is intimatelylinked to reality. It constitutes theoreticalactivity based on the employment of theimagination to create symbolic worldsimbued with open-ended and creativeresonance. It reformulates an imaginaryreality that may not bow to digital systems orpositivist logic, but which rather constructsadditional spaces that enrich the mindand the soul. The knowledge society forwhich we aim must go beyond quantifiablescientific knowledge to embrace creativeknowledge in all its literary, artistic, andcultural forms. Unlike the sciences andtechnology, artistic innovation contributesto enriching the symbolic existenceof humankind. Despite differences indefinitions, concepts, processes, andresults, creative knowledge forms a primarycomponent of contemporary humanknowledge and an element of regenerationfor its concepts and tools. While the effectof a painting, piece of music, novel, poem,or play cannot be quantitatively measured,a statistical measure of the number ofliterary writers, musicians, and theatreprofessionals provides a general idea ofthe scope of cultural activity, although itfails to capture the human and aestheticdimensions of creative production.Contemporary studies of how conceptsare passed on within widely separated fieldsof knowledge have shown that conceptssignificantly increase in value as they aretransferred from one field of knowledgeto another.Arab cultural production faces numerouschallenges related to the climate of freedomand stability, the need for sustainedinstitutional and financial support, and theneed to raise the awareness of the public(see Chapter 2). Among its most prominentchallenges are the limited publicationof books in proportion to the Arabicreadingpopulation and the weak quality ofthese books, and, more significantly, theextremely limited base of actual readersamong the Arabic-reading population.On average, the individual Arab readsvery little annually. The first Arab Reporton Cultural Development, published bythe Arab Thought Foundation, states that“if we distributed all the books publishedevery year among the population, for every11,950 Arab citizens there would be onebook, whereas there would be one bookfor every 491 British citizens and every 713Spanish citizens. This means that the Arabcitizen’s share in published books equals4 per cent of the British citizen’s shareand 5 per cent of the Spanish citizen’s”(Mu’assasat al-Fikr al-’Arabi, 2008, in204 ARAB KNOWLEDGE REPORT 2009
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United Nations Development Programm
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This Report has been produced throu
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This year’s report may perhapsbes
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ICT in the Arab countries and reinf
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CONTENTSPREAMBLEIntroductionPrelimi
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Quantitative indicatorsTertiary edu
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LIST OF BOXESBox 1 The Effect of th
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Figure 5-7 Published scientific art
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Table 21 Time devoted to secondary
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The knowledgefield and revolutionto
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The literature onhuman rights place
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Arabic istechnologicallypoor in com
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Intercommunicationwith the self mea
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Table 2CountryGroupGroup 1: Oilecon
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Figure 2504540353025201510508070605
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In the period2003-2007, morethan 83
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eversion, in many cases, is not ass
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Thus the Arab region in general, an
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knowledge over recent years. This w
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However, this progress remains limi
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CHAPTER ONETHE THEORETICAL FRAMEWOR
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The successfuldeployment ofthe know
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The knowledgerevolution atthe end o
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Technology, theeconomy, andsociety,
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No one pursuesknowledge forits own
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The Report adoptsa concept ofknowle
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The goal of thiscritical review isn
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In our bidfor economicand humandeve
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The political reformproject remains
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Globalisation isdependent oninforma
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The battle overknowledge in oursoci
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The most obviousexample of the gapb
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BOX 1-9The Virtual as an Interrogat
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The upsurge intechnologicalprowess
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Collective humaneffort must bedirec
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End Notes1Epistemic saturation refe
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CHAPTER TWOARAB KNOWLEDGE PERFORMAN
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current economic crisis in the autu
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FIGURE 2-3Perceptions of corruption
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technology infrastructure, blogs ar
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nations continue to occupy their pr
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to the third oil boom, which reache
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have realised a degree of progress
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FIGURE 2-8Index of global competiti
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FIGURE 2-10Net exports of manufactu
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namely the spread of poverty, socia
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TABLE 2-2Arab Countries according t
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while some of these nine countries
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and political participation. All of
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first INTEL computer club; INTELis
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from the ages of thirteen to twenty
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solutions that allow use of the ava
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to this trajectory, a consumer, not
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specific cases.These flexibilities
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CHAPTER THREEEDUCATION AND THE FORM
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FIGURE 3-1Education and human resou
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of the qualitative knowledge capita
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TABLE 3-1CountryOpportunities for b
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Virtually the only area in which Ar
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must possess if they aspire to part
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TABLE 3-2Opportunities for the form
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General secondary education andthe
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elatively high enrolment rates of b
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Available data shows large discrepa
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TABLE 3-3Comparison of overall resu
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females. According to this data, to
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show educational accomplishments am
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inroads well beyond their current f
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FIGURE 3-6aMaths performance of eig
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BOX 3-8The Contribution of Non-Publ
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Kuwait, and the worst performers su
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emained encumbered by the prevailin
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eveal the breadth of the gap that c
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countries and providing a picture o
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information systems. The available
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89Finland, for example, whose stude
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CHAPTER FOURINFORMATION AND COMMUNI
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FIGURE 4-1ICT index values for Arab
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countries and the Arab countries. T
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Arab countries-Egypt, Algeria, Leba
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of Arabic content and its low rate
Page 170 and 171: exchange of future technology servi
Page 172 and 173: of national partnerships aimed at s
Page 174 and 175: TABLE 4-2Readiness of Arab countrie
Page 176 and 177: as the implementation of programmes
Page 178 and 179: BOX 4-2Evaluating the Performance o
Page 180 and 181: of common principles that guarantee
Page 182 and 183: data from various sources and then
Page 184 and 185: FIGURE 4-11Paper consumption and in
Page 186 and 187: processing and the methods and tool
Page 188 and 189: TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEAND FUTURE INI
Page 190 and 191: within bounds that do not hinder bu
Page 192 and 193: preservation and the consolidation
Page 194 and 195: 21As a result of the nature of comp
Page 196: CHAPTER FIVEARAB PERFORMANCE IN RES
Page 199 and 200: FIGURE 5-1Innovation system index f
Page 201 and 202: The extremely lowamounts spentby Ar
Page 203 and 204: It has become clearthat the wager o
Page 205 and 206: Joint researchprojects among Arabsc
Page 207 and 208: Theoretically, themore researcherst
Page 209 and 210: Average expenditureon scientific re
Page 211 and 212: BOX 5-6Jordan’s “A Professor in
Page 213 and 214: BOX 5-8For the last three decades,
Page 215 and 216: FIGURE 5-7Published scientific arti
Page 217 and 218: A review of theperiod from 2002to 2
Page 219: Social scienceresearch holds aspeci
Page 223 and 224: Arab societies arefilled with examp
Page 225 and 226: Human capitalis among Arabcountries
Page 227 and 228: TABLE 5-12Trade in technological pr
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Page 231 and 232: End Notes1UNESCO Institute for Stat
Page 234: CHAPTER SIXBUILDING THE KNOWLEDGE S
Page 237 and 238: The most conspicuousfeature of thek
Page 239 and 240: A review of nationalplans in the Ar
Page 241 and 242: The positiveachievements inthe Arab
Page 243 and 244: One of the keyfoundations of thevis
Page 245 and 246: Freedom andinstitutionalisationare
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Page 249 and 250: If we admit thatlanguage is avehicl
Page 251 and 252: The major challengelies in changing
Page 253 and 254: Deployment is linkedto the creation
Page 255 and 256: The variousproposals includedin thi
Page 258 and 259: ReferencesReferences in Arabic‘Ab
Page 260 and 261: the President of the ICRC Expresses
Page 262 and 263: al-Duwal al-‘Arabiyya, UNESCO’s
Page 264 and 265: Sen, Amartya. 1999. Development asF
Page 266: Castells, Manuel. (1998/2001). LaSo
Page 269 and 270: the Age of Technology).• Binsa‘
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egional and international levels an
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ANNEX 3. MEASUREMENT OF THE ARABCOU
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indicators that make up the pillar.
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countries’ rankings among the cou
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of the Arab countries and suffer fr
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Freedom House and Heritage Institut
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Endnotes* This annex was prepared b
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STATISTICAL ANNEXGENERAL INDICATORS
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Table 3: Economic IndicatorsCountry
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KNOWLEDGE PERFORMANCE ENVIRONMENTST
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Table 7: Press Freedom Index in the
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EDUCATIONTable 9: Adult literacy ra
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Table 11: Gross enrolment ratios in
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Table 13: Adult illiterate populati
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Table 16: Net and gross enrolment i
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Table 18: Lessons in basic educatio
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Table 20: Literacy rates among youn
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Table 22: Evolution of enrolment ra
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Table 24: Student enrolment rates i
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Table 26: Distribution of graduates
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Table 28: Estimated educational lev
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Table 30: Enrolment rates in non-go
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RESEARCH AND INNOVATIONTable 32: Nu
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Table 34: Indicators on research an
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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHN
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FIGURE b-2Growth in average number
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competition between the internet se
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Table c-4: Ranking of a group of Ar
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United Nations Development Programm
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