The Different Faces of Development

Unfortunately for the Middle East, resource wealth and development do not necessarily go hand in hand. Numerous factors determine whether a state achieves development, and this is precisely what the 2009 Arab Development Report and the 2009 Arab Knowledge Report explain.

More interestingly, these two investigations manage to frame the question of development in different ways. That is, recognizing that wealth does not imply development, both reports start from the premise that the definition of development should be analyzed in order to determine how development is to be measured.

In this sense, the originality of the 2009 Arab Knowledge Report stands out greatly. The Arab Knowledge report notes that “the current knowledge and communications revolutions have opened new possibilities to develop human livelihoods and strengthen the efforts to increased forms of knowledge that contribute to the achievement of human welfare”. In other words, according to the report, the ability of government’s to provide and encourage knowledge production and its dispersion are an important factor in providing individuals with the ability to increase their welfare.

Beyond looking at gross economic indicators such as GDP, for example, the Arab Knowledge report takes on a much more specific, some would say human, side of development and it manages to do so while paying attention to the cultural and historical particularities of the region that might impact the out come of their practices. 

For example, the report describes its approach had to concerned itself with some of the formative components of the different domains of knowledge in the Arab reality. The report claims that this permits them to diagnose and measure the size of existing knowledge gaps and in turn generating an internal debate that aspires to build and develop Arab knowledge performance.

As a result of these aims, the report approaches the question of Arab Knowledge through themes. Special attention is given to expanding the capacity of institutions that are associated with knowledge in the region. The chapter did however highlight concerns over the way the limitation of economic freedoms might impact these institutions. The oil boom, it was recognized, has not done much to boost economic freedoms. The rise of extremist religious tendencies was also evaluated as an important factor inhibiting Arab knowledge. 

While still providing an original way of assessing development, the Arab Human Development report takes into account a greater range of factors that affect development directly, and in turn is able to provide more specific definitions than the Arab Knowledge Report.

The focus of the Arab Development Report, sponsored by the UNDP and authored by intellectuals and scholars from Arab countries, is the concept of human security. The UNDP defines human security as “the liberation of human beings form those intense, extensive, prolonged and comprehensive threats to which their lives and freedom are vulnerable”. More importantly it argues that the obstacles to human development in the region that have proved so stubborn lie in the region’s characteristics which undermine human security.

The report thus notes the fragility of the region’s political, social, economic and environmental structures, its lack of people-centred development policies and its vulnerability to outside intervention. Human Security, the report concludes, is a prerequisite for human development, and its widespread absence in Arab countries has held back their progress.

The Arab Development report outlines seven dimensions of threats, but also provides suggestions for how these may be surmounted. Like many developing countries, high unemployment and persisting poverty are underlined as particularly challenging.

Consequently, notes the report, “the fabled oil wealth of the Arab countries presents a misleading picture of their economic situation, one that masks the structural weaknesses of many Arab economies and the resulting insecurity of countries and citizens alike”.

Another important challenge that the Middle East has long faced regards the growing population and the environmental impact this has. According to UN estimates, Arab countries will be the home to 395 million people by 2015, in a region where water and arable land are shrinking.

Additionally, the question of military intervention also poses serious obstacles for the human security of the region. In Iraq, the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Somalia, people’s basic rights to self determination and peace have been forcibly annulled. They face threats to their lives, freedoms, livelihoods, education, nutrition, and health. These threats greatly undermine the development of the region.

The report acknowledges that recommendations to rectify these challenges are beyond the capabilities of individual states ­– as what is clearly required involves region wide initiatives. In this sense both reports coincide in their recommendations, despite the different areas of development they explore.

While the Arab Knowledge Report does provide a unique interpretation of challenges to development in the Middle East, and it is certainly clear that knowledge propagation is necessary to the promotion of development, in comparison to the Arab Development report it does present a few deficiencies. For one, the majority of the report is spent outlining the theoretical dimensions of knowledge and the aims of the research agenda. While these are important aspects of the investigation, without which the report would have been incomplete, it appears as though the attention paid to the theoretical foundations of the debate caused some neglect of the possible solutions that could be undertaken by the regional states.

On the other hand, the Arab Development Report, although greater in scope manages to explore each theme in detail. More importantly perhaps, is the ability of the report to link the different challenges together, highlight their urgency, and recommend necessary policies to limit their impact. Put together however, the two reports provide an important assessment of the challenges the region faces. Although not without hope, it is clear that the region cannot continue to ignore the well being of its citizens and that it must undertake a holistic approach towards development if it wishes to see its resource wealth translate into an overall improvement in the quality of life of individuals. These two reports, through their unique approach to development, manage to not only redefine the issue, but also to question the factors that affect development. This approach undoubtedly highlights important risk factors that through another methodology may have gone unobserved.