The title of the latest report by the UN Economic and Social
Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) on inequality in the Arab region is as
disturbing as its findings. The report, “Inequality in the Arab Region: A
Ticking Time Bomb”, sums up what numerous other reports and studies had
concluded for some time. The nagging question is: Will there be serious and
tangible action to defuse such a bomb?
اضافة اعلان
The report paints a distressing picture where key
indicators such as income and gender inequality were found to be above the
global average. In some Arab countries, the top 10 percent of earners accounted
for more than 60 percent of national income, compared with 52 percent globally,
55 percent in Latin America, and 36 percent in Europe.
Gender inequality is systematically above the global
average, with an estimated 179 years needed to close the gender gap, compared
with 142 years globally, the report states. Factors driving inequality include
demographic dynamics, poor education, the digital divide, weak institutions,
corruption and lack of transparency, data deficits, and unaffordable housing.
The report points to youth unemployment, which was
3.8 times higher than that among adult workers, and is the highest globally in
the past 25 years.
Added to all these factors is the traumatic effect
of the phenomenon called the Arab Spring on the economies of the most
vulnerable Arab countries. With Tunisia now going through political and
economic despair, the one single example often cited by pundits as a success
story has now become obsolete.
From Syria to Yemen and from Lebanon to Libya, key
developmental indicators are sinking fast. For the first time we see countries
edging close to becoming failed states.
For various reasons, many key nation states in the Arab neighborhood suffered from institutional corruption, demographic shockwaves, collapse of essential institutions offering basic and higher education, health, and decent jobs.
Regardless of where one stands on the root causes
and forces behind the eruption of the Arab Spring, one should objectively point
to the fact that the elements constituting a perfect socioeconomic storm have
been a massing for years, much before 2011. The sad state of most countries in
the Arab region today can partially be blamed on certain political forces
seeking¸ with outside help, to hijack popular uprisings, but that is not the
full story.
Factors cited by the ESCWA report as driving
inequality and potentially leading to upheaval are mostly the same that had led
to the eruptions of 2011. External global factors notwithstanding, the Arab
region suffers from endemic challenges that have upset many countries since
independence.
Ideological schisms, military takeovers, and failed
wars against Israel have marked the decades since the 1950s. By the 1990s, the
Soviet Union had collapsed and a new world order had taken over with one global
superpower. Ending the Arab-Israeli conflict took more pragmatic routes
starting with the Oslo Accords and culminating today with the signing of the
Abraham Accords. But in between these long years, the region became scarred by
regional wars and foreign invasions, which left indelible faults in the
structures of many regional states.
For various reasons, many key nation states in the
Arab neighborhood suffered from institutional corruption, demographic
shockwaves, collapse of essential institutions offering basic and higher education,
health, and decent jobs.
Only one cluster of like-minded, politically and
economically similar states had come through: the GCC. Today it is the only
part of the Arab region that sees healthy economic growth, and huge
infrastructure investments with an eye on creating enough jobs for its youth.
The set of challenges facing these countries is different from those
confronting the Levant and North Africa.
But the region as a whole faces common challenges
that require consolidated action. Climate change and extreme weather
conditions, food security, water scarcity, and the stability of the entire
region represent cross-border challenges.
If this region is to reverse the current trajectory that drives inequality, poverty, brain drain, unemployment, poor education, corruption, and lack of transparency and accountability, it must adopt a new approach.
Old ideologically structured and politically
crippled bodies like the Arab League have failed to rise up to the occasion and
address looming challenges. The region needs a fresh start with an
entrepreneurial spirit, one that replaces free handouts with feasible
investments with the aim of addressing the factors that the ESCWA report
pointed out.
If this region is to reverse the current trajectory
that drives inequality, poverty, brain drain, unemployment, poor education,
corruption, and lack of transparency and accountability, it must adopt a new
approach.
The region as a whole sits on incredible resources
that can render it self-sufficient in food, energy, and manpower while helping
it combat the effects of climate change, water scarcity, desertification and
other challenges. A new approach that is based on an ambitious vision of the
concept of complementarity in the Arab region is needed. And the Gulf states
can take the lead in implementing such vision.
That may be easier said than done as countries in
the region succumb to political upheaval and economic disarray, but doing
nothing leaves us with no choice as the sound of the ticking bomb gets louder
by the day.
Osama Al Sharif is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman.
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