Research For Development In The Dry Arab Region

Relates the story of ten years of knowledge and experience of a team of development researchers investigating sustainable rural livelihoods in the community of Arsaal in arid north-eastern Lebanon. Covers how fruit growing became a source of conflict between the growers and pastoralists, the problems of poor soil conditions, limited access to water and loss of biodiversity, and lack of access to agricultural extension knowledge and services as well as to markets for fruit products and women's handicrafts.

Can dryland communities cope with the global changes sweeping the world today? Is their predicament limited to their difficulty of building livelihoods on precarious natural resources? Can development research and external interventions offer any sustainable and fruitful partnerships to this end? This book relates the story of a relationship between a poor rural community in arid Lebanon and a development research project and their common journey to embrace sustainable resource use. The book compiles 10 years of knowledge and experience of a team of development researchers investigating sustai.

Research for Development in the Middle East and North Africa

The Arab region is in crisis and it is easy to succumb to pessimism about its future. This report, however, embraces a vision of hope: one that illustrates the many ways in which the region can act to ensure its future security and prosperity. It envisages a day when authoritarianism, occupation, foreign domination and all forms of discrimination end. A vision of human development and economic prosperity implies that citizens are free to voice their opinions and practice their beliefs without fear, the rule of law applies equally to all, and the basic necessities for a decent life are affordable even for the least fortunate. It calls for choices to be made in order to lay the foundations of an inclusive society, so as not to slip further into a spiral of deepening violence, instability and recession that would undermine development for generations to come.This report presents a vision of improved governance, advanced social justice and human well-being, transformed economies, and intensified regional integration; in short, an Arab region at peace, stable and prosperous.

Zahlan's detailed study examines recent and current performance of Arab countries and their organizations in scientific research in relation to their socio-economic development. It shows that the Arab countries are severely handicapped by a political economy dominated by technological dependence, corruption, and limited research collaboration.

The Arab Human Development Report Series aims at building human development in the Arab world. 2003 Report surveys the most salient trends that influenced the process of human development in 2002-2003 and provides a thorough analysis of one of the major challenges the Region faces: its growing knowledge gap. The Report evaluates the current production of knowledge, examines the sociological context of knowledge acquisition, and highlights the landmarks necessary to establish a knowledge-based society in the Arab countries.

Over recent decades we have witnessed the globalization of research. However, this has yet to translate into a worldwide scientific network, across which competencies and resources can flow freely. Arab countries have strived to join this globalized world and become a ‘knowledge economy,’ yet little time has been invested in the region’s fragmented scientific institutions; institutions that should provide opportunities for individuals to step out on the global stage. Knowledge Production in the Arab World investigates research practices in the Arab world, using multiple case studies from the region with particular focus on Lebanon and Jordan. It depicts the Janus-like face of Arab research, poised between the negative and the positive and faced with two potentially opposing strands; local relevance alongside its internationalization. The book critically assesses the role and dynamics of research and poses questions that are crucial to further our understanding of the very particular case of knowledge production in the Arab region. The book explores research’s relevance and whom it serves, as well as the methodological flaws behind academic rankings and the meaning and application of key concepts such as knowledge society/economy. Providing a detailed and comprehensive examination of knowledge production in the Arab world, this book is of interest to students, scholars and policy makers working on the issues of research practices and status of science in contemporary developing countries.

This title was first published in 2002. In 2000, a major international conference was organized by the Arab Planning Institute to identify, analyze and compare development challenges facing Arab countries at the dawn of the new millennium. An interdisciplinary team of scholars were brought together from the fields of regional science, development studies, economics, business and government policy and together they addressed global, regional and domestic challenges and their impact on the Arab region. This volume brings together the best papers presented at this conference. In doing so, it offers up-to-date insights into, and a clearer understanding of this region. It highlights issues including: economic and social implications of globalization; strategic alliances; the implications for Arab countries of emerging technological patterns; the impact of the European Monetary Union and the euro; Arab regional integration; education; and the development of individual Arab country's economies.