Knowledge Production in the Arab World assesses regional research, posing questions crucial to understand the relevance of this research and its beneficiaries. The book studies the Arab drive to join the increasingly globalized world of research, and in doing so promote “knowledge” economies. Yet – as the provocative subtitle The Impossible Promise suggests – authors Sari Hanafi and Rigas Arvanitis find that this ambition has not, or not yet, been realized. Hanafi and Arvanitis (respectively based at the American University of Beirut and at the French Institut de Recherche pour le Développement) argue that research from Arab countries is still struggling to reach its potential. Using case studies from the region, the book depicts Arab research as involving two potentially opposing strands: local relevance and internationalization. Underlying this dichotomy is one of the more obvious problems in regional research dynamics – underfunding; the financial investment in scientific research in the
Riad al Khouri is an economist specializing in the Middle East and North Africa region. He has undertaken extensive research on regional trade and political economy, among other topics, and writes widely about development issues. He taught economics at the American University in Beirut (AUB) and Beirut University College (now the Lebanese American University) and worked as a consultant for the European Commission, ESCWA, GTZ, ILO, IOM, OPEC Fund, UNDP, UNIDO, USAID, and the World Bank, among many other public sector organizations, as well as for numerous private firms.
