More than 40 years ago, 25 people headed by then crown Prince Hassan
bin Talal met in Aqaba to establish the Arab Thought Forum (ATF). These 25 founders
(I am proud to have been one of them) agreed to a charter which basically
reflected the optimism of creating a proactive and strong Arab order.
اضافة اعلان
The creation of ATF came on the heels of a very successful Arab summit
in Amman. Twenty Arab thinkers had presented two important documents, which
were immediately endorsed by the Arab Summit. One was “The Arab Development
Decade”, the other “Arab Strategic Development”. Both came after Yousef Sayegh had
produced his monumental Nobel-deserving book titled “The Determinants of Arab
Economic Development”, published in 1978.
At the time, oil prices were high, Arabs were pampered, aspirations
were lofty and dreams of a more united politically and integrated economically
Arab world were at a crescendo. Growth rates were high, and unemployment was
low. The only two problems then were the absence of Egypt, because president Anwar
Sadat had signed the Camp David accords with Israel, and the rift between Iraq
and Syria over Iran, with which Iraq was at the beginning of a long war.
The absence of Syrian president Hafez Al Assad from the conference
was conspicuous, and Syrian troops were mobilized near the Jordanian borders.
Forty years later, none of those positives is still valid. Arabs
suddenly lost both confidence and aspiration of an integrated Arab economy. Economics
of despair are boosted by the evidence of poverty, unemployment, divisiveness and
social unrest. Half of the countries of Arab world lack the basic economic necessities,
their infrastructure is deteriorating and their superstructure is frail.
Thinkers and opinion makers harbor deep feelings of
helplessness and guilt. To them, bridging the gap between decision makers and
thinkers is not plausible. Instead, we need to build bridges between decision making
and thinking based on evidence and impact assessment.
In his keynote address to the 27th ATF General Assembly
meeting commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Forum, HRH Prince Hassan
called for doing two methodological reforms. First, we should de-emotionalize
our decisions with fact-based evidence; second, we should commit to
self-criticism. It is time to review the paradigm on which the ATF efforts are
based and to which they are dedicated.
Prince Hassan quoted the famous Andalusian theologist Al Iman Al Shatibi, who called for
maximizing the common values and minimizing the differences. For Arabs to address
challenges like unemployment and environmental challenges (water
shortages and climate change), and to be able to survive the encroachments of
neighbors and distant partners alike, they need a new paradigm, a new regional
profile that harmonizes geography with demography.
The ATF needs
to embark on a new approach to help Arab countries be hopeful and in touch with
reality. Prince Hassan's speech was a wake-up call for thinkers to search for
that approach, which should be people-oriented, and determine its raison d’être,
modalities and organizational structure.
The writer is an economist, and has held several ministerial posts, including former deputy prime minister and former chief of the Royal Court.
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