ABSTRACT
The survey carried out in the mid-2000s by Sari Hanafi concerning research centers in the Arab Mashrek shows that research activities have mainly been conducted by two different types of organizations: first, by specialized research organizations such as research centers that have emerged either within or outside university settings (like the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies); and second, by NGOs specialized in development, advocacy and cooperative efforts (Hanafi 2010). For instance, in the Palestinian Territory research production is very marginalized when it comes to university-affiliated institutions (only four centers constituting 10 percent of research output),2 while the majority of organizations conducting research are NGOs. Some 41 percent of the organizations producing research are specialized bodies, while the rest are NGOs dealing with advocacy and development (Hanafi 2009). However, there are two exceptional cases in the region: on the one hand, Lebanon and Syria; on the other hand, Egypt. In Lebanon, the university is still the bastion of research: according to the ESTIME survey, 85 percent (60 out of 71) of the researchers included were affiliated with Lebanese universities (IFPO 2007). Syria has a similar profile, but for different reasons: the government still controls what is produced in the social sciences and humanities (SSH). These are strongly apologetic, restricted in their research approaches, controlled by singleparty authorities and used for ideological propaganda and political manipulation. Egypt constitutes a unique case in which the importance of public research centered on the social sciences is a phenomenon that dates back to the 1950s. Egypt hosts the National Center for Sociological and Criminological Research (NCSCR) based in Cairo, as well as the semi-public Al-Ahram Center for Strategic Studies. Other centers are university affiliated, like the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), which is also based in Cairo. In Jordan we find a diverse array of research organizations, but more importantly the large majority of these organizations are located outside the premises of universities. Maghreb countries show the highest output of SSH research, whereas Egypt and the countries of the Arab Mashrek are characterized by relative stagnation in these fields (El-Kenz 2005). Taking the total number of projects supported in all fields in Lebanon, for example, we find that support for projects in SSH research did not exceed 9 percent at the American University of Beirut (AUB), and 5 percent at the National Council for Scientific Research. The situation is comparable for most Arab countries. The reason for this may not lie in a lack of financial or human resources or in the absence of research priorities tied to the daily concerns of members of society, but rather in the weak academic incentives for researchers and university professors, especially in the fields of human and social sciences. Although universities continue to play a primary role in social science research in the Maghreb, Syria, Libya and Lebanon, more than 80 percent of
social science research is produced through research centers or consultative agencies outside of universities, especially in Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and to some degree in the countries of the Gulf (Al Maktoum Foundation and UNDP 2009: 202). According to the 2013 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report (TTCSP 2014), there are many think-tanks and research centers in the Arab region. Most of them have emerged in the last few years (Table 5.1). Some of these centers are populated by local researchers. The most important centers are Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies (ACPSS) (Egypt), the Center for the Arab Unity Studies (Lebanon) and the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS) (Qatar), Economic Research Forum (Egypt), Tunisian Institute for Strategic Studies (ITES), Amadeus Center (Morocco), Centre des Etudes et Recherches en Sciences Sociales (CERSS) (Morocco), Al Jazeera Centre for Studies (Qatar), Arab Thought Forum (Jordan) and Center for Strategic Studies (Jordan). These centers are half research center and half think-tank. All have an independent entity for the study of SSH, with particular emphasis on the applied social sciences. However, some other centers are branches of international and transnational centers/agencies, like Institut Français du Proche-Orient (IFPO) (Lebanon), Brookings Doha Center (Qatar) and Carnegie Middle East Center (Lebanon). The first category of centers has triggered regional collaboration much more than international, while the second category has done the opposite. The ACSS is aware of this reality and expresses interest in fostering capacity building for local researchers but keeping collaboration and cooperation with both regional and international social science communities. It is interesting to note that most of these centers are outside the premises of the universities and more and more independent of the government. This trend is constant since the beginning of the 1990s. For instance, in 1989, only 7 percent of research centers were independent (Shahid 1989). In spite of this amazing development in the Arab world, propelled by its ongoing transformation, there are two forces that seek to delegitimize the social sciences: the authoritarian political elite and some ideological groups such as certain religious authorities. Both have taken advantage of the social sciences’ problematic origins (their emergence during the colonial era) and their foreign funding.
