Noeman Al-Sayyad* evaluates the contribution the Arab Human Development Report has made to the Arab political reform debate " Mafish Faydah! " (It's no use). This comment of the historic Egyptian leader, Saad Zaghloul, from his deathbed, on the futility of medical efforts to save his life, has become the proverbial conclusion to many a discussion on political reform efforts in the Arab world. The persistence and resilience of a monopoly on power in the hands of small ruling elites in many regimes in the Arab region has put politics beyond the reach of a majority of citizens, left as observers rather than participants in a process to effect social change. Fear or apathy is the dominant response to any call for political engagement. However, recent events in several Arab countries reveal that more Arab citizens are determined to muster their will to challenge the status quo, capitalising on openings towards greater freedom. Despite its delayed publication, the recent Arab Human Development Report (AHDR 2004) could not have come out at a more opportune moment to underline the urgency of its main message: failure to deliver real political reform that guarantees greater freedoms and good governance may result in chaotic social upheaval. Initiated in 2002, the series of AHDRs examine the most significant challenges facing development in the Arab world at the start of the third millennium. The first report, issued in 2002, identified three key deficits in the areas of knowledge, freedom and good governance, and the empowerment of women. The second report (AHDR 2003), focused on the Arab world's growing knowledge gap, and called for closing it through a number of carefully considered recommendations. Third in the series, AHDR 2004 surveys political reform efforts throughout the region over the past three years and aims at stimulating a dialogue in Arab societies on how to expand freedom and establish good governance. Since its publication, the AHDR series has inspired extensive and energetic debates inside the Arab region and internationally. Like many intellectual endeavours, the response to the findings and arguments of the AHDRs ranged between enthusiastic acclaim and pointed critique. However, supporters and critics alike duly recognised the significance of the reports in informing policy choices for development. Two features of the reports are particularly important. First, they reflect energy for change from within; they are authored by an independent and diverse team of eminent Arab experts, and they present balanced and self-critical analyses of some of the most fundamental issues facing Arab policy makers. Secondly, the reports do not stop at diagnosis and analysis of the current state of affairs. They conclude with a strategic vision that proposes credible avenues of positive action. The individual is free only in a free society in a free nation Subtitled "Towards Freedom in the Arab World," AHDR 2004 adopts a comprehensive concept of freedom that not only emphasises civil and political freedoms, but also the liberation of the individual from all factors that are inconsistent with human dignity, such as poverty, hunger, ignorance and disease. This comprehensive concept of freedom expands beyond the individual level to include the collective (societal) and the national (national liberation) levels as integral components. The report sums up all societal structures and processes necessary to guarantee, sustain and promote freedom in the order of good governance. Such an order is constructed on five pillars: first, safeguarding freedom in the comprehensive sense to ensure expansion of people's choices; second, effective popular participation and full representation; third, effective and accountable institutions; fourth, the rule of law; and fifth, an efficient fair and independent judiciary. As such the report presents freedom and good governance as essentially inseparable. The current Arab condition The report employs this conceptual construct to examine the status of freedom and good governance in Arab countries. This analysis is complemented by presenting the findings of a field survey exploring perceptions of Arab citizens of the most important components of freedom and the level of enjoyment of those freedoms in their countries. It is important to note that only five Arab countries, namely Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Morocco and Algeria, gave permission to conduct this survey. The report concludes that the situation of freedom and good governance in the Arab world ranges from deficient to seriously deficient, notwithstanding some country variations. Unrepresentative and authoritarian regimes interested in preserving their interests and grip on power, and keen on giving no chance to any opposition to challenge their authority, have erected a political architecture that relentlessly curtails civic and political freedoms, which the report dubbed as the "Black-hole state model." In the words of the AHDR 2004's authors, "the modern Arab state, in the political sense, runs close to this astronomical model, whereby the executive apparatus resembles a 'black hole' which converts its surrounding social environment into a setting in which nothing moves and from which nothing escapes." Furthermore, such regimes violate constitutional rights taking control of the law and manipulating it to their own ends. At times laws are enacted to confiscate constitutionally granted rights, while in others the constitutions are themselves amended to usurp certain fundamental rights. At the root of this state of affairs the report finds a confluence of internal constraints and external interests. Such factors include: the contradiction between Arab freedom and the narrow interests of dominant global powers; "oriental despotism"; appropriating religion to perpetuate tyranny; and the trap of one-off elections, among other aspects. But in the final analysis, the picture is not totally bleak. The report records political reform advances in select countries, including Morocco, Bahrain, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Palestine, and an expanding discourse within civil society calling for reform, citing initiatives such as the Sanaa declaration and the Alexandria Charter. Three alternate future scenarios The basic premise of the report's strategic vision is that the convergence of factors of a deepening developmental crisis, internal repression and external interference calls for bold, comprehensive and fundamental reforms. Partial measures will no longer be sufficient or effective. That is why it presents its first future alternative of maintaining the status quo under the title of "Impending Disaster", highlighting the cost of inaction. This alternative is juxtaposed against the ideal scenario that is entitled "Izdihar: epanouissement humain". In this alternative, power would be redistributed within Arab societies in favor of the citizenry and a good governance regime is built on the pillars mentioned above. The outcome of an historic transformation should be based on peaceful negotiation among all pro- reform segments of Arab society. Acknowledging that the historical project of Arab renewal which started two centuries ago has failed to deliver, the report accepts a third midway scenario accommodating external reform initiatives. However, acceptance of this alternative is conditional upon equal partnership, provision of Arab ownership and leadership, respect for outcomes freely chosen by the people, inclusiveness and complete respect of international human rights law, especially the right to national liberation. The report concludes setting out recommendations to guide Arabs towards the realisation of this vision of a gradual and negotiated transition of power to democratic regimes. Creating an environment that guarantees the traditional three key freedoms -- opinion, expression and association -- will be the first step in the process of transition through dialogue between the state and all political, intellectual and civil forces. This genuine and equal dialogue in an environment of freedom should allow civil society institutions to gain autonomy and emerge as a truly representative actor of the whole society, free from corruption and an inclusive force to spearhead the movement towards good governance. Three key priority areas of action are necessary: abolishing the state of emergency, ending discrimination against any societal group and guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary. The transformation process also entails reforming the political system to allow for full participation through free and fair elections, the results of which must be fully respected. Civil and political rights and basic freedoms should be guaranteed by constitutions with sufficient legal safeguards to avoid the possibility of the legislatures to diminish or abolish them. Along with many others, these recommendations are presented only as guidelines offered to all active societal forces on the Arab political scene: a society of freedom and good governance. The report, as such, delivers on its promise of providing insightful descriptions of current conditions, a sound analysis of causes and potentials and a vision for alternative avenues of transformation. It does not pretend to have the answer, and thus refrains from any prescription. Those searching the report for an action manifesto may be disappointed. But a careful and critical reading of the report may help them develop their own. * The writer is head of Information and Communication RBM Unit, UNDP
