The Obstacles To Progress in the Arab World

Norvell B De Atkineyoustahz@aol.com

Why does a once great empire lag so far behind the rest of the world? Reviewed Aug 2015

The Great Arab/Islamic Empire

The Most Advanced in the World

Al-Kharazmi

ChemistryMathematicsGreek ClassicsPhilosophyAstronomyNavigationMedicine

Military Prowess Unmatched

These 7th century warriors conquered all before them

What Went Wrong

• Best to read the book of the same title by Bernard Lewis.– Self-Sufficiency/isolation– Trade route shift– Fragmentation– Mongol invasion– ossification

Why the Continuing Stagnation?• The nine Burdens

– The austere natural environment– The burden of history– The declining education system– Cultural stagnation---Stagnated economy --Politicized clergy– Politicized military– Betrayal by Intellectual elite– An irresponsible and/or bought media

Natural environment

Environmental Factors

• Paucity of Land suitable for agriculture

• Population distribution• Climatic factors• Diminishment of the Bedouin life

style• Lack of water

water

• The origins of the great rivers systems e.g not in countries that need it the most.

• The decreasing aquifer water• The lack of consistent water conservationAs a consequence

lack of food sufficiencylack of food security

Water

The Burden of Historythen…….

W

Arabia Now….

222 weak nations

As a burden

• The glorification and mythology• Tareq Heggy “singing our own praises”• Failure disengaging their culture from elements

of the past incompatible with modernity• Traditional values too strong to absorb new

ones• Hume Horan: “historical baggage” lack of a

culture of introspection and self criticism

Arab Cultural Stagnation

• Paucity of good books• Research minimal• Literacy not high and declining• Political constraints• Rise of Religious constraints• Western pop culture

Mohammed Arkoun on the cultural stagnation

• The Muslim societies import the most complex technological materials, buy the most sophisticated armaments………but all these instruments have had little perceptible effects on mentalities or even on reflective thought.

Education System

Education

• Learning by rote• Gender inequalities• Heavily Islamic• Heavily politically oriented• massive refugee problem• Language issues

The Language of Creation; the power to galvanize…or inhibitThe three levels and multiplicity of dialects

–Classical–Modern standard–StreetIncreasing number of Arabs who

cannot speak or write their own language well

Arabic and Thought• As Iraqis, we use two languages so, ,we actually use

two kind of thinking. In our daily life we speak slang but whenever we are in a middle of a big celebration, we shift to classical Arabic and the same goes for writing an article or a letter.

• By doing so, we are adopting two characters and thinking according to two different styles.

• Today, we listen to hundreds of speeches and read hundreds of articles filled with poetic rhymes and grammatical decoration, nevertheless those speeches and writings fail to touch the essence of our agonies and sufferings.

• Ali al Wardi Iraqi historian and philosopher

Stagnated EconomyTimur Kuran;

Islam’s political institutionstax system failed to protect private propertyReligious waqfs system opposed enduring

commercial enterpriseFabricated ”Islamic economic system” Wasta, Bakhish and corruption•Socialism•Bureaucracy but no institutions•Culture that hinders entrepreneurship•Educational barriers

Politicized Clergy

• Political leaders who put on religious garb and religious leaders who act as political leaders– Televangelists– Al Baghdadi– Muqtada al Sadr– My personal recollections– The importance of the local mosque

Politicized military

• Regime protection. First priority of the mlitary

• Regime distrust of their own people• Balanced forces Ex Iraqi Republican

guard vs. regular army• Incompatibility with Western training

methods• Sectarianism

Elites

• Intellectuals who speak for the Masses?• Gap between intellectuals and the people• The tendency of the intellectuals to simply

act as promoters of odious regimes• Those who resist must do so from outside

the Arab world• As Musa al Husayni depicted them as

lacking courage and ability for self criticism

MEDIA

Plays to emotions. Most is bought and paid for by the governments or political movements. Largely irresponsible, propagandistic. Very little true independence.

Civil Society? Impediments

• The corruption of the intellectual class• The lack of a civic consciousness• The infection of extremist “religious” movements,

leading to the replacement of the utopian dream of Pan-Arabism by an even greater chimera, The restoration of the Caliphate.

• The habit of despotic or authoritarian rule.• “A thousand years of tyranny better than one

day of chaos”