Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

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Thus the Arab region in general, and theoil-producing countries of the Gulf inparticular, have been affected by the fall inthe price of crude oil.The most significant negative effects ofthe global financial crisis on the economiesand societies of the Arab region can besummed up as follows:• A sharp fall in the Arab region’s stockexchanges and money markets, which,by the estimate of the internationalinvestment house, Global, have sufferedlosses of around 47 per cent to the endof November 2008.• A dramatic fallback in crude oil prices,which have tumbled from a record highof $147 per barrel as a result of a fall indemand–mostly from the US–of around3 million barrels per day.• Ahmed Goweili, the secretary of the ArabEconomic Unity Council, estimates totallosses for individuals, organisations, andgovernments, including sovereign wealthfunds, in the Arab region as a result ofthe global economic crisis to be in theregion of $2.5 trillion. The negativeeffect of these losses will in turn affectthe budgets for personal consumptionand private and public business sectorinvestment programmes. This will leadto a vicious circle of further economiccontraction and stagnation due tofeedback loops.• A fallback in foreign direct investmentto the Arab region, and in particular thatoriginating from the US and the Eurozone.It is expected that the crisis will have itsmost violent effects on those Arab statesthat are highly dependent on foreign aid.There are fears that shrinkage of this aid,given the current crisis, will have a negativeimpact on development programmes and,in consequence, on the building of theknowledge society. It may also take sometime for the ramifications of the negativeimpact of the current financial crisison the state of knowledge to becomeapparent. Such crises normally break outfirst in the financial sector, spreading onlyafter an interval to the real (as definedBOX 1The Effect of the Financial Crisis on Development FundingThe Doha Declaration for Financingof Development issued in December2008 stated, “We are deeply concernedby the impact of the current financialcrisis and global economic slowdownon the ability of developing countriesto access the necessary financingfor their development objectives.Developing countries and countrieswith economies in transition risksuffering very serious setbacks to theirdevelopment objectives, in particularthe achievement of the internationallyagreed development goals, includingthe Millennium Development Goals. Itabove) economy, leading in turn to furthercontraction in the economic variables.This subsequent contraction in the realeconomy then impacts on the socialsectors, resulting in a rise in unemploymentlevels, a fall in salaries, erosion of savings,and from there, cultural and knowledgeimpoverishment. These interactions in thesocial sectors lead to the impoverishmentof the middle and lower classes. It is likelythat the three sectors will suffer greateconomic and social hardships during2009, and that these may extend till thefirst half of 2010 and perhaps further.This interval provides a good opportunityfor those concerned with the conditionsof knowledge in the Arab world to makeeffective plans to manage the crisis andcontain its negative repercussions.Like all crises, just as the current onehas negative results and ramifications onthe Arab region, so it may also open upnew opportunities that can give forwardmomentum to the course of development,innovation, and the knowledge society. Inwhat follows we will attempt to indicatethe most important new prospects open tothe Arab economies and societies, so longas good assessment and good planning aremaintained over the coming months andyears.is critical to adopt further decisive andprompt actions to contain the currentcrisis and restore sustained economicgrowth. Given this global context, wecall the attention of all donors to thesituation and needs of the poorest andmost vulnerable. We also urge all donorsto maintain and deliver on their overseasdevelopment aid commitments... Inthis context, it is also important fordeveloping countries to maintain soundmacroeconomic policies that supportsustained economic growth and povertyeradication.”Source: Doha Declaration on Financing for Development: outcome document of the Follow-up International Conferenceon Financing for Development to Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus, Doha, Qatar, 29 November – 2December 2008.There are fearsthat shrinkage ofaid, will have anegative impacton developmentprogrammes andknowledge societyThe financial crisismay open up newopportunities thatcan give forwardmomentum tothe course ofdevelopment,innovation, and theknowledge societyPREAMBLE19
The current crisismay help to restorethe status of honestwork and sincereeffort, and builda new systemof incentives toencourage creativityand developmentMany key problemsstill form a majorobstacle to theestablishment of theknowledge society,the most prominentamong them beingcontinuing illiteracy• Curtailment of the “culture ofspeculation” and of speculativebehaviour in general, especially withregard to stock markets and property.• The redirection of savings intoproductive investment channels thathave large development and knowledgereturns. This should be followed bytransition in the Arab economy to amode of production that encouragescreativity and innovation.• Direction of intra-Arab investmentsto areas with high developmentreturns rather than those with rapidand purely financial returns such aswere characteristic of the 1990s andthe beginnings of the twenty-firstcentury, when excessive investmentin the financial and property sectorscame at the expense of productive andknowledge-based activities with longtermdevelopment effects.• Import substitution as a result of thedecline in foreign currency reserves.This will provide impetus to furtherefforts to improve quality, spread aculture of “excellence” and raise thelevel of competitiveness of products andservices in the Arab market. This againwill lead to the concentration of effortson the local manufacture of knowledgetools, upon whose import from abroadwe are presently largely dependent. Thiswill help to solve the special problemsof the state of knowledge in the Arabstates by developing output to serve ourneeds and priorities.• Increased technological and knowledgeself-reliance through a gradual moveaway from very high cost “turn-key”technology contracts and packages.This would include the acquisition oftechnology and knowledge by processesof creative practice, or what is known inthe economic literature as technologicaland knowledge progress via on-the-joblearning.• Expansion in the development of intra-Arab commerce to compensate for theforeign export markets in Europe andthe US to which most Arab exports aredirected. This will lead to the openingof other doors for partnership in thefuture and encourage the transfer ofknowledge.The current crisis may also open upnew prospects for a creative adaptationto globalisation through knowledgeand technological cooperation with theadvanced nations of the South such asIndia, Brazil, China, South Korea, andMalaysia and by means of other South-South arrangements and partnershipsmore closely tailored to the levels ofeconomic, social, and knowledge progressin the Arab region. This should give usthe opportunity to share in the potentialbenefits of globalisation through merit,rather than suffering merely the downsides,as has often been the case.While over the last ten years propertyand stock market speculation has led to anunprecedented centralisation of incomeand wealth in the Arab region, it hasalso led to the “divorce of effort fromreturn,” and thus dealt a severe blow tothe values of hard work, innovation, andcreativity innate in our culture and society.The current crisis may help to restore thestatus of honest work and sincere effort,and this will help to build a new systemof incentives to encourage creativity anddevelopment.Given the current crisis and thepressures on public and private budgets,there must be caution with regard todipping into allocations for researchand development activities and cultural,creative, and artistic projects. The welfareof coming generations is at stake.OVERVIEW OF THE CURRENTKNOWLEDGE SITUATION INTHE ARAB REGIONThe Report will treat of the conditionof knowledge and sustain an analysisaimed at revealing its most significantdeficits and formulating suggestions tohelp its revival. Here we present a briefpreliminary review of some of the majordevelopments that have occurred in Arab20 ARAB KNOWLEDGE REPORT 2009
Page 1 and 2: United Nations Development Programm
Page 3 and 4: This Report has been produced throu
Page 5 and 6: This year’s report may perhapsbes
Page 7 and 8: ICT in the Arab countries and reinf
Page 9 and 10: CONTENTSPREAMBLEIntroductionPrelimi
Page 11 and 12: Quantitative indicatorsTertiary edu
Page 13 and 14: LIST OF BOXESBox 1 The Effect of th
Page 15 and 16: Figure 5-7 Published scientific art
Page 17 and 18: Table 21 Time devoted to secondary
Page 19 and 20: The knowledgefield and revolutionto
Page 21 and 22: The literature onhuman rights place
Page 23 and 24: Arabic istechnologicallypoor in com
Page 25 and 26: Intercommunicationwith the self mea
Page 27 and 28: Table 2CountryGroupGroup 1: Oilecon
Page 29 and 30: Figure 2504540353025201510508070605
Page 31 and 32: In the period2003-2007, morethan 83
Page 34 and 35: eversion, in many cases, is not ass
Page 38 and 39: knowledge over recent years. This w
Page 40 and 41: However, this progress remains limi
Page 42: CHAPTER ONETHE THEORETICAL FRAMEWOR
Page 45 and 46: The successfuldeployment ofthe know
Page 47 and 48: The knowledgerevolution atthe end o
Page 49 and 50: Technology, theeconomy, andsociety,
Page 51 and 52: No one pursuesknowledge forits own
Page 53 and 54: The Report adoptsa concept ofknowle
Page 55 and 56: The goal of thiscritical review isn
Page 57 and 58: In our bidfor economicand humandeve
Page 59 and 60: The political reformproject remains
Page 61 and 62: Globalisation isdependent oninforma
Page 63 and 64: The battle overknowledge in oursoci
Page 65 and 66: The most obviousexample of the gapb
Page 67 and 68: BOX 1-9The Virtual as an Interrogat
Page 69 and 70: The upsurge intechnologicalprowess
Page 71 and 72: Collective humaneffort must bedirec
Page 73 and 74: End Notes1Epistemic saturation refe
Page 76 and 77: CHAPTER TWOARAB KNOWLEDGE PERFORMAN
Page 78 and 79: current economic crisis in the autu
Page 80 and 81: FIGURE 2-3Perceptions of corruption
Page 82 and 83: technology infrastructure, blogs ar
Page 84 and 85: 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
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exchange of future technology servi
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of national partnerships aimed at s
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TABLE 4-2Readiness of Arab countrie
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as the implementation of programmes
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BOX 4-2Evaluating the Performance o
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of common principles that guarantee
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data from various sources and then
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FIGURE 4-11Paper consumption and in
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processing and the methods and tool
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TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEAND FUTURE INI
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within bounds that do not hinder bu
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preservation and the consolidation
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21As a result of the nature of comp
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CHAPTER FIVEARAB PERFORMANCE IN RES
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FIGURE 5-1Innovation system index f
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The extremely lowamounts spentby Ar
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It has become clearthat the wager o
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Joint researchprojects among Arabsc
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Theoretically, themore researcherst
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Average expenditureon scientific re
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BOX 5-6Jordan’s “A Professor in
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BOX 5-8For the last three decades,
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FIGURE 5-7Published scientific arti
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A review of theperiod from 2002to 2
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Social scienceresearch holds aspeci
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Most Arabic-languageperiodicals in
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Arab societies arefilled with examp
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Human capitalis among Arabcountries
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TABLE 5-12Trade in technological pr
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It is ironic thatalthough the Arabw
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End Notes1UNESCO Institute for Stat
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CHAPTER SIXBUILDING THE KNOWLEDGE S
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The most conspicuousfeature of thek
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A review of nationalplans in the Ar
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The positiveachievements inthe Arab
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One of the keyfoundations of thevis
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Freedom andinstitutionalisationare
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Priorities are subjectto a great de
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If we admit thatlanguage is avehicl
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The major challengelies in changing
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Deployment is linkedto the creation
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The variousproposals includedin thi
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ReferencesReferences in Arabic‘Ab
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the President of the ICRC Expresses
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al-Duwal al-‘Arabiyya, UNESCO’s
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Sen, Amartya. 1999. Development asF
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Castells, Manuel. (1998/2001). LaSo
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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
Page 328 and 329:
Table c-4: Ranking of a group of Ar
Page 332:
United Nations Development Programm
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