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Critical Reforms in the Arab World:From Rhetoric to Reality by Ismail Serageldin

The world is in the throes of a profound transformation. Driven by a true revolution in science and technology, and an inexorable march towards globalization, the new century promises increased competition, a knowledge-based economy and society and a world where human rights, democracy, and the meaning of citizenship are central themes as much as well-being, equity and fairness in human and economic development. Within this changing world, the Arab world must also change, and change profoundly. Past policies, whatever their merits at certain points in time, must change. Broad-based comprehensive reform is absolutely necessary in the Arab world. We were, once, the promoters of science and learning throughout the world, and the practitioners of tolerance and pluralism at a time when the west was in the grip of intolerance and bigotry. It is time for the Arab world to link to these traditions of excellence and to reinterpret them in contemporary terms. We should be active participants in the creation of a better world for the 21st century, and have our distinct contribution to make to this momentous international enterprise.

The issue of reform in the Arab World is being tackled by many groups. These are responses to a real felt need by Arab citizens everywhere. Yet some are concerned that the issue of reform is being imposed by external forces to serve their own purposes. Some others are concerned that some of these efforts could be all talk and no substance in terms of real actions. Members of the Arab Civil Society – broadly defined – believe that reform is imperative, that it must be home grown, and driven by forces internal to the society whose problems they address. Therefore, at the behest of the Library of Alexandria, a group of Civil Society leaders and prominent intellectuals, businessmen and academics will be gathering in the Library of Alexandria, from 12 to 14 March 2004, to work out a proposed agenda for reform, and to develop a follow-up mechanism to ensure that this is not a one-off event.

The Library of Alexandria is the organizer of this event, with a number of co-sponsoring institutions including the Arab Business Council, The Council for Arab Women, and the Economic Research Forum and the Arab Academy for Science and Technology. The organizers have decided to exclude the attendance of non-Arabs (to ensure that the initial formulation of the agenda and priorities are truly home-grown and “owned” by the Arabs themselves) and to exclude any formal representation by Arab Governments, so that the discussion may proceed unencumbered by formalities. All Arab Countries will be represented by eminent intellectuals, civil society activists and prominent opinion-makers, but all are invited as individuals, not as formal country delegations. President Mubarak of Egypt has graciously agreed to place the conference under his patronage, manifesting his willingness to hear any views and to allow the expression of any opinion that could lead to constructive proposals to promote reform in Egypt and the Arab world.

In calling for this gathering, we are fully conscious of the important efforts that others have launched, including the important meetings in Doha, Jeddah and Sana’a (January 2004), as well as the series of Arab Business Council (ABC) sponsored meetings in Cairo (September 2003), Dubai (October 2003), ‘Aqaba (December 2003) and Riyadh (January 2004). It is our intention to build on the achievements of these events, avoid duplication and strengthen the proponents of reform as much as possible.

It is our firm belief that reform must be comprehensive, far reaching and suited to the dual task of allowing each Arab Society to accelerate the pace of its own reforms while laying the foundations for a stronger regional cooperative framework that would make the Arab World internationally more than the sum of its constituent states. We are thus organizing the conference along four main themes: Political and Institutional Reform (with a particular focus on Democracy and the Civil Society); Economic Reform; Social Reform; and Cultural Reform. In addition, two topics were highlighted to receive special attention in this first conference. These are:

1. Youth employment: With a rapidly growing population, the Arab world must create millions of new jobs each year. The specter of tens of millions of half-educated unemployed youths in the cities of the Arab World is a disturbing one. Not just for the social and political dynamite that they represent, but far more importantly for the wasted talents and frustrated aspirations of so many wonderful young persons.

2. The Role of Women: No society can advance if it ignores the talents and contributions of half its population. Ample evidence exists that by educating girls and empowering women is central to any real socio-economic development. The Arab world has its own specificities and Arab women are certainly increasingly playing important roles in our public life. But much more needs to be done. No claim to cultural specificity should be given credence if it leads to the oppression of women or the mutilation of girls.

But beyond these and the declaration that will ensue, it is our intention to design a mechanism whereby this will be the launch of an ongoing Arab Civil Society effort, that will ensure that there will be significant follow-up to this first conference, leading to action on the ground in many of our countries, as we engage with decision makers and collectively rise to the challenges of the new century.

II. First Theme: Political and Institutional Reform and the Civil Society

Democracy and Political Reform:

Democracy, government by the people for the people, is the stated goal of all citizens. It is absolutely necessary for the development of any nation. Even if economic growth can be accelerated by autocratic regimes, real development requires participation, engagement and change on a broad front that only the consent of the governed can bring about. The practice of democracy is all about learning to live together, to respect diversity and to arbitrate differences in a civilized fashion. It is about decisions by majorities that respect the rights of minorities, all equal under the rule of law. It is about equality and due process. It is a state of being, reflecting a state of mind (see the discussion under the fourth theme on culture). It is about human rights, gender equity. It is about political and civil rights, including freedom of religion and of assembly, as well as economic, social and cultural rights.

Today, the Arab world is trying to define the means of improving the reality of participation and the effectiveness of democratic institutions. Yet, the dominance of particular elites that control political processes in many Arab countries has fostered a feeling of alienation among many young people and generated a widespread call for the reform of political institutions to ensure more participation, more transparency and more accountability. Political reform tends to focus on elections, representation, functioning of political parties, role of the media and relations between different branches of government. Controversial questions such as term limits, the appropriate role of religion in political life, special outreach to women and minorities in political representation, are all questions that must be addressed. But as can be seen from current debates in the western democracies, in such topics there is no one size fits all. Each country must develop its own agenda, with an important voice given to the civil society in that country. Special attention must be given to the institutional reforms that promote good governance and the empowerment of the civil society to play a larger role.

Institutional Reform:

Good governance is about transparency, accountability, institutional pluralism, participation, the rule of law, and the free flow of information. Institutional pluralism means that we should have a lot more than just government and for-profit private sector. It means that we must have the third sector (foundations, institutional donors) and the civil society. In addition to the trade unions, the professional associations, the academic groups and research community.

The regulatory framework that would make all this possible is always underestimated in discussions of reform. The financial and capital markets require regulation and oversight that is both flexile and rigorous. Privatization requires transparency and effectiveness. Recognizing the difference between policies that exist only on paper and the harsh reality in which economic transactions and social tensions thrive is a big task that transcends ideological fervor or simplistic dogmas.

The political transformation of institutions that make the new economic system work, and the new social compact a reality must be fashioned with every bit as much imagination and expertise as the economic and social dimensions of this reform agenda.

Creating the Enabling environment for the Civil Society:

The role that the civil society is expected to play in the reformed Arab World is significant by any standard. The institutional pluralisms encouraged in the new enabling environment of the reformed order would undoubtedly bring many benefits. The mechanisms by which the civil society is to flourish are complex and intertwined. Overall, the civil society requires an “enabling environment”. That elegant phrase subsumes legal, financial, administrative and political decisions and regulations. This will require a new philosophy of state-citizen relations. Citizens should have Voice, Choice, and Participation in decision-making.

Legal standing: The legal standing of the civil society organizations is the backbone of any civil society movement. If community based organizations or advocacy organizations feel that they are susceptible to being declared illegal or subjected to legal harassment as they try to undertake their activities, they will not only be inhibited, they will also be subject to self-censorship that could be very detrimental to the societal role that they have to play.

In that context, it is important to distinguish between civil society efforts that deal with:

• Development activities;


• Advocacy and public awareness;


• Watchdog functions; and


• Community based organizations.

Simplified procedures: The enabling environment will require a fast track registration and streamlined procedures. It must not force the international NGOs to register as investors because the current legislation does not give them adequate protection for the funds that they generate.

Strategic scrutiny: The other side of the coin of simplified procedures will be the need for “strategic scrutiny”. This means that a well designed scrutiny, undertaken quickly and at periodic intervals may be far more effective than bureaucratic reporting requirements that do not provide the adequate information for the security concerns of the state.

Organizing this effectively will be the most important challenge for the reformed political order in the Arab world. It is the razor’s edge between intrusiveness and ignorance, between a shackling and an enabling environment. The USA itself is going through many of these questions concerning the concerns for terrorism prevention and the rights to privacy and due process. How the Europeans dealt with separatist movements of their own may offer some interesting insights.

Financial regulations: A most problematic issue for civil society efforts will be the right of civil society organizations to receive foreign funds. How about foreign Arab funds? How about collaboration with foreign NGOs? The Conference should address these issues frontally and come up with clear and unambiguous recommendations.

Political climate of transparency and accountability: Above all, the overall climate of political transparency and accountability will make all the difference between the presence of a real civil society movement and the proliferation of paper organizations. Thus government political reform of its own organizations and the reform of existing political parties will be critical for the emergence of the truly dynamic civil society that we hope for. Once the political reforms and the empowered civil society organizations get started, they will be mutually reinforcing. The credibility of the government is central to any reform effort.

Freedom of Expression, Participation and Decentralization: Protection of free speech is essential especially in periods of a rising tide of intolerance, as is happening in many parts of the Middle East today. Participation and Decentralization are two of the most important aspects of building up the civil society in any country. The Participation is the glue that holds societies together and is key to creating the enabling environment and empowers the civil society to participate in debate and decision-making. With the civil society, there is room for direct people involvement in key decisions affecting them. Decentralization brings government closer to the grass-roots. It also allows for larger levels of Community involvement in key decision-making. Both are very positive in terms of overall political reform.

Conclusions

The many facets of political and institutional reform, of the civil society and its enabling environment, will require addressing many issues, along the lines described above. The promotion of democracy and of civil participation is central and the conference must produce clear and unambiguous statements. Clarity on cross-border finance and collaboration will also be required.

III. Second Theme: Economic Reform:

The so-called “Washington Consensus” policies of the IMF - World Bank – US Treasury, with a strong emphasis on macro-stability and fighting inflation have not paid enough attention to the issues of employment and social services. Indeed, the Washington Consensus has sometimes been effectively caricatured as the triad of: Stabilization, Privatization, and Liberalization. Liberalization is usually taken to mean removal of government interventions in financial markets, capital markets and trade transactions.

These policies are often taken as a benchmark to measure progress on economic reform in the Arab world. Yet, many of the countries in the Arab World have rightly tried to articulate a more nuanced approach to economic reform, and so they should. In a young and growing Arab World, entering the knowledge-based economy of the 21st century, youth employment and the quality of education and other social services must be central to any notion of reform. Within the realm of strictly economic policies a more nuanced approach would start with priorities and sequencing, linking these with the non-economic aspects of a social policy and the necessary institutional framework to make the entire reform (both economic and social) work.

The conference must go beyond generalities and ensure that serious attention is given to the whole array of issues that will promote private investment, generate growth, create employment and social well-being in a gender-sensitive sustainable development framework.

The Economic part of the conference should therefore focus on three aspects of economic reform:

1.Individual Reform Packages: this would reflect a case study approach, each subjected to a rigorous review within a common analytical framework, paying special attention to youth employment and educational reforms. The outcome would be the definition of the appropriate set of policies (including sequencing and pacing) that different participating countries should adopt. What is suitable for Egypt is not necessarily what is needed in Yemen or Saudi Arabia.

2. Collective Regional Actions: What are the collective actions within that package of reforms that should be carefully coordinated to avoid regional problems? For example, are there particular financial sector reforms that should be taken to avoid “contagion problems” (such as those that happened in the East-Asia crisis in 1997)? What regional actions are needed to turn the much discussed Arab Common Market into a reality?

3. Integrating The Arab World With The World Economy: The possible inter-Arab and Arab-International trade relations that would link the Arab countries into an Arab Free Trade Area or zone, and the whole Arab world into the WTO framework or into other free trade zones.

III. Third Theme: Social Policies

Elements of a social policy, as distinct from the social impacts of economic policies, could include issues such as maintaining social cohesion, fostering equity, upholding cultural identity based on shared universal values and solidarity, not divisive micro-identities. These are in addition to dealing with social services (education, health, housing, etc.). Particularly important will be to address the issues of youth employment and the role of women (identified for special attention at the outset of this note) as well as the following three issues:

1. Education and capacity building for research and development (R&D) in Science and Technology (S&T). This will be central to address the worldwide challenge posed by the movement to the knowledge-based society that is rapidly accelerated by the new ICT technologies. The ICT revolution itself provides enormous opportunities for catching up with the more advanced countries, but also raises some serious issues as to the cost of connectivity and the problems posed for developing countries’ R&D efforts by the new IPR regimes. These issues call for a massive transformation of our education systems, and for totally restructuring our research establishments.

2. Health and Human Services: pubic health versus curative medicine, and careful epidemiological studies and preventive actions will all play a role in defining the health priorities for a still rapidly growing population. Within that context, the role of outreach and public awareness, even in sensitive areas such as HIV/AIDS and reproductive health (Family planning) must be addressed forcefully but with tact.

3. Social Safety Nets: It will be impossible to talk of market reforms without concern for the costs of displaced workers, potential business cycle effects on employment and the proper management of social security and retirement benefits. Likewise, efforts to facilitate a broad-based participation in the market reforms by large segments of the population must be addressed with imagination.

V. Fourth Theme: Cultural Reforms

Cultural reform can be considered the basic step for all other reforms. The outlook towards progress, the meaning of modernity and the nature of our common identity in a rapidly globalizing world all demand a careful and critical evaluation of past and future orientations. Without a profound transformation in the cultural outlook of people the other reforms will be impossible to formulate or implement.

Indeed, under this critical theme, we should address the renewal of the cultural discourses in the Arab World, the liberation of the structures of cultural awareness and creativity from the obstacles that are impeding their free movement. We must consider science and the scientific outlook as a basic component of culture. This will not come about except through the modernization of our cultural institutions, developing a new basis for cultural activity, and the search for new mechanisms and techniques for cultural production and exchange. This has to be accompanied by putting in place a new cultural dialogue, based on equality among all intellectuals, mutual respect and tolerance to overcome the existing violence imbedded in the current cultural discourse, paving the way for a new compact for culture in our society.

This theme must address different facets of the cultural discourse, including creative discourse, educational discourse, scientific discourse, religious discourse, media discourse, and public (nationalistic) discourse, and many other aspects that will doubtless come about in the course of the conference discussions.

VI. To Conclude: A follow-up Mechanism

Conference Outcomes: The participants will not only review these themes against some invited papers and produce a concluding document, but they will also propose a specific follow-up mechanism for the further interaction of the civil society with the processes of reform around the Arab world. Several ideas are being developed which should lead to making it a credible instrument.

Preparatory Meeting: Many groups are meeting to elaborate on these ideas before the meeting in March. We in Egypt are organizing a large brainstorming event for members of the Civil Society in Egypt to prepare for the March meeting with sharpened focus, more thought out positions and suggestions. Scores of Egyptian intellectuals and Civil Society Activists met in Alexandria on the 19th and 20th of February for that purpose. All views were welcomed, and a bottom-up approach was pursued, producing a first draft of the ideas reflected in this note. Subsequent discussion with the pan-Arab organizing group led to some additional refinements. In the end, there is a very wide consensus on the issues raised in this note.

Envoi: In this essay, I have laid out the current thinking as we approach this important conference. In a future essay, I hope to communicate to our non-Arabic reading friends the results of our deliberations and invite the involvement of an ever-greater circle of interested citizens in this process of participatory input into the reform process in the Arab World.