Ph D Rafał Ożarowski
Chair of
International Relations
University
of Gdansk, Poland
Globalization and The Arab World.
Theoretical Framework
Globalization is a
contemporary tendency described as changes in economic, political and cultural
spheres in international relations. This notion is also a buzzword[1]
which explains in a simple way a very complicated process in the spheres
mentioned above.
There are many
definitions describing globalization in international relations that are still
developed alongside with the evolving global system. However, this notion is
not estimated univocally. Some researchers argue that globalization is mainly
positive phenomenon. Others prefer to emphasize disadvantageous impact on the
world system[2], claiming that globalization
is still making the developed part of the world richer at the expense of
underdeveloped countries.
Among synthesized
descriptions of globalization made by researchers in Poland and worldwide one
may encounter Andrzej Chodubski’s definition providing a description of this
phenomenon as; “processes of
intensification and consolidation of economic, financial, political, military,
cultural, ideological relations and dependences between the people of the world
which leads to uniformization of the world in all these domains and renders
into social bonds, solidarity and identity on a translocal and transnational
scale”[3].
Adam Gwiazda, who mainly examines international economic relations, writes that
globalization means narrowing inter-dependances between states, nations and
regions of the world[4].
Anna Mrozek-Dumanowska considers globalization as a chain of political,
economic and social activity in the world, existing due to gradual and
intensified levels of joint action and bonds within a group of states or on a
global scale[5]. In the opinion of
Lebanese Daily Star publicist Mohammed Mousalli: To a large extent,
globalization promotes integration of the world and calls for the removal of
all cultural barriers[6].
As
we can see, these descriptions of globalization are almost homogeneous. However
processes of globalization implicate also negative effects on cultures and
civilizations[7].
Today
globalization affects every region of the world with societies who benefit from
technological development. Consequently, the governments of these societies
support: liberal market, institutionalized cooperation in politics and make
their own country market friendly to foreign investments. Acting in a such way
allows countries to be in the world system of
production, consumption and economic transfers.
The Arab world Diversity
The Arab world like all
the regions of the world also faces up globalization, and if Arabs want to be a
part of the modern world they virtually have no choice but to deal with it.
However it is a very difficult task to estimate, how the Arab world is dealing
with globalization. Diversity of the Arab World is a pivotal reason disallowing
simple estimation of impact of globalization on this region.. There are no two
identical political regimes, standards of life,
levels of country’s development or religious factors affecting state’s
policy. Part of them have their own natural resources helping them to be a type
of a wealthy rentier state e.g. Saudi Arabia or Kuwait and others like Egypt or
Syria are constrained with permanent economic and social troubles.
Trying to simplify the
issue of diversity, it seems advisable to distinguish between two spheres in
relation to the Arab world, namely political and economic one. The first sphere
is mainly connected with division into politically radical and politically
conservative countries. The other regards division into oil-rich nations and
conversely, those without substantial oil reserves[8].
Some researchers pay
much attention only to the economic sphere and divide the Arab world into four
categories
1) mixed oil economies (Algeria and
Iraq)
2) oil economies (Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC[9]) states)
3) diversified economies (Egypt,
Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia)
4) primary export economies (Djibouti,
Mauritania, Sudan and Yemen)[10].
Taking into
consideration aforementioned differentiation between Arab oil states (GCC and
Libya[11])
and non-oil Arab states, the oil-rich ones generate revenues from oil export
which constitutes about 90% of revenues of all export. Being rentier states,
they guarantee their citizens standard of life many times higher than in the
rest of the Arab world. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of oil
rich states is few times higher and even in an extreme case 10 times higher
than in non-oil Arab states.
Taking
political sphere into consideration, the Arab world is a very unstable region
with dangerous fundamentalist’s impact on politics. Arab countries regimes (as
mentioned above) are conservative monarchies or authoritarian republics consisting
of many barriers blocking liberalization in economy or bringing in political
and economic reforms in general. There is no legal background for private
initiative which deprives on average citizen of sufficient support from the
country.
What
is more, dependence of the USA on the Middle Eastern oil estimated at about 50%
of the whole import makes that United States more willing to interfere in the
Middle East in comparison with other regions of the world. In this manner USA
claims that maintaining stability is their main goal, but if it is really
stability for the residents is a kind of unanswered question.
Also geography and
geopolitics are a very crucial factor implicating diversity of the Arab world.
Geographical aspect is directly connected with Arab vast land situated from the
coast of North-Western Africa to Persian (Arab) Gulf in Asia. This distance
measured in a straight line is circa 6 thousand kilometers. Additionally, the
historic development of Arab nations which was not coherent implicates today’s
Arab diversity. It is supposed that in current times Maghreb countries have
more in common with France than with Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. Majority of
Maghreb dwellers call themselves Berbers not Arabs which provokes further
issues concerning “Arab nation”.
Globalization Discourse in the Arab world
Globalization Discourse
is well-developed among Arab researchers. Many of them have their own stance
concerning globalization (in Arabic language it is known as awlama).
Majority of them perceive globalization as a negative phenomenon that seems to
be a kind of “catastrophe” (an-naqba) for Arab societies. It is also
compared to incursion of the Western world into Arab land.
The argumentation of
negative perception of awlama is found in Koran. There are a few
sections of Koran (sura) concerning pride and Arab predominance over different
non-Muslim nations. You are the best of the nations raised up for (the
benefit of) men; you enjoin what is right and forbid the wrong and believe in
Allah (3:110); And surely this your religion is one religion and I am
your Lord, therefore be careful (of your duty) to Me (23:52). Moreover
message in the second sura – The Cow might be suggest that Muslims will never
meet with acceptation of Christians and Jews: And they say: None shall enter
the garden (or paradise) except he who is a Jew or a Christian. These are their
vain desires. Say: Bring your proof if you are truthful (2:111) [12].
Taking this into consideration, do 93% of Arab Muslims have its own reasons to
see globalizations as product of jahiliyya[13]?.
Radical Arab
intellectuals claim that globalization leads to elimination of the border
between world of islam (dar al-islam) and world of infidelity (dar
al-kufr). They warn against a vision of combining secular and religious spheres
leading to unrestricted freedom[14].
Well-known Egyptian journalist Said al-Lawindi writes that globalization is a
“form of American hegemony” and describes it as a nightmare (kabus)[15].
Egyptian theologian, currently residing in Qatar sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi says
in a pungent way that globalization (putting its concentration on a culture
sphere) is directly connected with hidden political and economic intension of
the opponents of Muslim world[16].
Even moderate
(liberal-minded) Arab intellectuals who mainly disagree with radical theories,
perceive globalization as a threat for Arab culture and heritage. Jabir Asfur
describes globalization as a ”barbaric” seeking to impose on Arab conditions
that are antithetical to human cultural diversity and inimical to
civilizational pecularities[17].
Despite this
overwhelming negative perception of globalization among Arab intellectuals,
some of them consider this phenomenon advantageous elements to the Arab world.
Syrian historian Aziz al-Azma associates globalization with modernity and
surrounding reality that helps to eradicate medieval features of the Arab
world. Lebanese philosopher Ali Harb describes globalization as a new era that
is a compilation of historical processes leading to cooperation of all nations
in the world[18].
The Arab world and Globalization. Practical point of view
Applying just
theoretical disputes, there is no possibility to estimate, if globalization
really affects the Arab world or not. Using rankings in international relations
helps to estimate the state of globalization in the Arab world and bring the
answer – if this world is globalized.
Globalization Index (GI)
is a main measure applyed to show classification of chosen countries in the
sphere of globalization. GI made by A.T. Kearney Company and “Foreign Policy”
is a result of 12 partial indicators describing four domains: economic
integration, personal contact, technological connectivity and political engagement. Unfortunately GI takes
into consideration only 62 countries. Among them there are only four states
from the Arab world (Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia). All four countries
are far behind first 30 places which indicates how low the level of
globalization is.
Source: based on Globalization Index 2006 www.atkearney.com
Another ranking regarding
globalization was made by Axel Dreher from Swiss Economic Institute (SEI). It
is the index of globalization comprising economic, political and social domains. In this index,
the scale of globalization has its range from 0 to 100. If the final result is
high the country is very globalized. In
the recent rankings, SEI analyzed 11 countries from the Arab world, which in
comparison to GI is a more representative group.
Table 1. Level of globalization in
Arab countries in the years 2000-2004
|
Country |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
|
Algeria |
42,2 |
43,08 |
44,29 |
45,16 |
45,5 |
|
Saudi Arabia |
54,06 |
55,56 |
54,83 |
54,73 |
53,69 |
|
Bahrain |
57,26 |
59,97 |
59,75 |
60,58 |
60,93 |
|
Egypt |
50,82 |
52,47 |
53,1 |
52,04 |
54,18 |
|
Jordan |
61,42 |
63,55 |
63,06 |
65,28 |
64,74 |
|
Kuwait |
57,72 |
63,15 |
60,93 |
60,77 |
63,51 |
|
Morocco |
45,44 |
48,6 |
49,14 |
53,2 |
52,93 |
|
Oman |
51,85 |
55,52 |
51,07 |
54,39 |
51,67 |
|
Syria |
37,77 |
35,64 |
35,83 |
36,17 |
39,09 |
|
Tunis |
50,5 |
51,08 |
51 |
51,05 |
51,81 |
|
United Arab Emirates |
66,45 |
69,92 |
70,41 |
70,53 |
70,39 |
Source: based on data from:
http://globalization.kof.ethz.ch
According to this index the most globalized country of the Arab world is the United Arab Emirates, with Syria being the least globalized.
Globalization advantages for the Arab
world ?
General Chairman of Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) Abdlatif Y. al-Hamad reckons that today the Arab world is challenged by globalization in three basic domains: liberalization, modernization and integration[19].
It means that the Arab World must
undergo a real metamorphosis with relation to basic domains mentioned above. Is
it really possible?
Generally, the main
problem to solve is political instability of this region. It does not allow to
bring in proper economic reforms enabling development of private initiative,
decreasing level of unemployment, revitalizing international trade and making
friendly conditions for foreign investors who are not convinced about political
stability and who will not take the risk to invest.
Authoritarian Arab leaders
want to maintain power in their hands even at the expense of necessary economic
reforms. Former president of Syria Hafiz al-Asad before his death in 2000,
nominated his successor own son Bashir al-Asad. Today the president of Egypt
Hosni Mubarak is facing a dilemma regarding his succession. Undoubtedlyl, the
same mechanism of succession would have taken place in Iraq, if Saddam Hussain
had kept power as a leader of this country. It is a kind of a vicious circle
blocking political changes and so does it inhibit economic progress in a very
effective way.
66% of oil resources are situated
in the Middle East (Arab world and Iran). Oil is often called as a blessing or
a curse for the region. Many of Arab countries have become prosperous states due to oil, but these
resources also draw the attention of great powers making the Middle East
important geostrategic place. It is connected with power security which today
is becoming the main great powers’ policy. In this manner the Middle East,
including Arab world, is treated by the rest of the world instrumentally. Irrespective of domestic issues, regular oil
and gas supplies are the most important.