More than 40 years ago, 25 people headed by then crown Prince Hassan bin Talal met in Aqaba to establish the Arab Thought Forum (ATF). These 25 founders (I am proud to have been one of them) agreed to a charter which basically reflected the optimism of creating a proactive and strong Arab order.

 

The creation of ATF came on the heels of a very successful Arab summit in Amman. Twenty Arab thinkers had presented two important documents, which were immediately endorsed by the Arab Summit. One was “The Arab Development Decade”, the other “Arab Strategic Development”. Both came after Yousef Sayegh had produced his monumental Nobel-deserving book titled “The Determinants of Arab Economic Development”, published in 1978.

 

At the time, oil prices were high, Arabs were pampered, aspirations were lofty and dreams of a more united politically and integrated economically Arab world were at a crescendo. Growth rates were high, and unemployment was low. The only two problems then were the absence of Egypt, because president Anwar Sadat had signed the Camp David accords with Israel, and the rift between Iraq and Syria over Iran, with which Iraq was at the beginning of a long war.

 

The absence of Syrian president Hafez Al Assad from the conference was conspicuous, and Syrian troops were mobilized near the Jordanian borders.

 

Forty years later, none of those positives is still valid. Arabs suddenly lost both confidence and aspiration of an integrated Arab economy. Economics of despair are boosted by the evidence of poverty, unemployment, divisiveness and social unrest. Half of the countries of Arab world lack the basic economic necessities, their infrastructure is deteriorating and their superstructure is frail.

 

Thinkers and opinion makers harbor deep feelings of helplessness and guilt. To them, bridging the gap between decision makers and thinkers is not plausible. Instead, we need to build bridges between decision making and thinking based on evidence and impact assessment.

 

In his keynote address to the 27th ATF General Assembly meeting commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Forum, HRH Prince Hassan called for doing two methodological reforms. First, we should de-emotionalize our decisions with fact-based evidence; second, we should commit to self-criticism. It is time to review the paradigm on which the ATF efforts are based and to which they are dedicated.

 

Prince Hassan quoted the famous Andalusian theologist Al Iman Al Shatibi, who called for maximizing the common values and minimizing the differences. For Arabs to address challenges like unemployment and environmental challenges (water shortages and climate change), and to be able to survive the encroachments of neighbors and distant partners alike, they need a new paradigm, a new regional profile that harmonizes geography with demography.

 

The ATF needs to embark on a new approach to help Arab countries be hopeful and in touch with reality. Prince Hassan's speech was a wake-up call for thinkers to search for that approach, which should be people-oriented, and determine its raison d’être, modalities and organizational structure.

 

The writer  is an economist, and has held several ministerial posts, including former deputy prime minister and former chief of the Royal Court.