U.N.D.P. Arab Human Development Reports

2002 Report2003: Knowledge

2004: Freedom & Governance

2005: Status of Women

Assessing Development

• HDI:

–Life expectancy

–Adult literacy & school enrollment

–GDP per capita

Assessing Development

• Amartya Sen: Development as Freedom

– Political freedom

– Economic facilities (markets & fair distribution)

– Social opportunities (education & healthcare)

– Transparancy guarantees

– Protective security (social safety nets)

Assessing Development

• AHDI:

Adds measures of Sen’s 5 freedoms to HDI

Correlates highly with HDI

HDI / AHDI Rankings• 2nd lowest region (only sub-Saharan

Africa lower)

• Freedom measure lowest of all regions

• “Voice and accountability” lowest of all regions

• 51% of youth want to immigrate

Progress

• Began late, but significant progress on…

Health: infant mortality & life expectancy

Education: teachers, schools & enrollment

Population: growth slowed

Three Deficits

1. Freedom

2. Women’s Empowerment

3. Capabilities / knowledge relative to GDP

Freedom & Democracy

“The wave of democracy that transformed governance in most of Latin America and East Asia in the 1980s and Eastern Europe and much of Central Asia in the late 1980s and early 1990s has barely reached the Arab States.”

Freedom & Democracy

“Political participation in Arab countries remains weak, as manifested in the lack of genuine representative democracy and restrictions on liberties.”

“Women remain severely marginalized in Arab political systems and broadly discriminated against in both law and custom.”

Oil• Wealth invested in industrialized countries

• Technology & technicians imported rather than adopted and developed

• “Rentier State”:

Gov’t becomes employer – patron

Citizens not taxed – don’t demandrepresentation

2003 Report:

Towards a Knowledge Society

General Trends

• Progress in advancement of women, “partly eclipsed by new setbacks in the areas of freedom of opinion, expression and association.”

• Knowledge production lags begin most other developing regions

Knowledge

• Education declining in quality

• Public spending on education declined since 1985

• Access to digital media low:

18 computers / 1000 people

(global average 78)

• Only 1.6% has Internet access

Knowledge• Stagnation in scientific research• Little investment in R&D• Low level of foreign investment• Oil wealth imported technology, not

invention or re-invention• Oil wealth invested overseas, not in

MENA• Brain drain: high % of scientists and

doctors leave

2004 Report:

Freedom and Governance

Freedom & Governance

“Despite variations from country to country, rights and freedoms enjoyed in the Arab world remain poor.”

Freedom and Governance

Not due to culture:

World Values Study of 9 global regions (including West) found “Arab countries topped the list of those agreeing that ‘democracy is better than any other form of governance.’”

Freedom and Governance

In “the modern Arab state… the executive apparatus resembles a ‘black hole’ which converts it surrounding social environment into a setting in which nothing moves and from which nothing escapes.”

Freedom and Governance

“The so-called ruling parties (where they exist) are, in reality, simply institutions attached to the executive… this means that parliament is a bureaucratic adjunct of the executive that does not represent the people whose mistrust in it continues to grow.”

Freedom and Governance

“The executive uses the ordinary and exceptional judiciary to eliminate and tame opponents, rivals and even supporters who step out of line…”

Freedom and Governance

Corruption: “close supporters are allowed to exploit their positions for unlawful gain, while ‘enforcement of the law’ against them remains a weapon to ensure their continuing and total loyalty.”

Freedom and Governance

“The key support buttressing the power of the executive is the intelligence apparatus… to the point where the modern-day Arab state is frequently dubbed ‘the intelligence state.’”

2005 Report:

Status of Women

Status of Women: Health

• High rates of reproduction-related morbidity & mortality:

• Mortality 1% in Mauritania; .07% in Qatar

• HIV / AIDS rate still low

Status of Women: Education

• High rate of female illiteracy: 50%

• School enrollment lower than boys, but perform better

• Women in majority in many university humanities and social sciences

• Men outnumber women in science & engineering

Economy

• Culture, economy, and laws cause women to “encounter significant obstacles outside family life that reduce their potential.”

• 1990 – 2003 increase in women working highest in world

• But % of women working still lowest in world: 33% (world: 56%)

Women’s Movement(s)

• Began early in 20th century; important post-Independence gains

• Expanded and re-invigorated in 1980s, and saw success in North African countries

• 1990s “difficult years” for progressive movements in MENA societies

Women’s Movements

“Relations within the family have continued to be governed by the father’s authority over his children and the husband’s over his wife, under the sway of the patriarchal order….” and changes “cannot be considered far-reaching.”