Changes in the Arab world have been dramatic after Arab Spring revolutions started in Tunisia 2011. Recently, two new constitutions of Egypt and Tunisia were enacted while Iraq approved its new constitution before that, in 2005. Economic and social issues were overshadowed by the political developments in the region. It is interesting to see how these new constitutions recognized these social and economic issues and tried to reform the existing state of affairs. It is interesting to note that the three constitutions attempted to expand and reform the role of science, technology, innovation, environmental, and sustainability issues. These aspects have an increasing influence on economic development and people’s life, especially in the Arab World. It is interesting to note that Iraq’s constitution requires the State to protect biodiversity, while Egypt’s constitution was ambitious enough to mandate the State to assign at least 1% of GDP for scientific research. Tunisia’s constitution was not less bold when cited Climate Change as one of the major threats to Tunisian society.
In this post, I will go through the three constitutions’ clauses that address science, technology, innovation, and the environment. The post is organized along the following sections:
- New constitutions
- Research and development
- Egypt Constitution: At least 1% of Egypt GDP for Scientific Research!
- Intellectual property
- Environment and sustainable development
- Conclusions
New Constitutions
Iraq’s constitution was drafted by a committee and enacted after being approved by a public referendum in October 2005. Egypt’s constitution was approved by a referendum in January 2014, while Tunisia’s constitution was adopted by an overwhelming majority of the country’s Constituent Assembly in January 2014. The full texts of the above constitutions can be found in the following links:
Reforms in research and development
Iraq’s constitution stipulates that “The State shall encourage scientific research for peaceful purposes that serve humanity and shall support excellence, creativity, innovation, and different aspects of ingenuity” (Clause 3/ article 34). This is a brief reference to Science, technology, and innovation but commits the State to encourage scientific research and support innovation. Tunisia’s Constitution also mentions scientific research in article 33, which states that “the State provides the means necessary for the development of technological and scientific research”. Egypt’s constitution was more explicit and clear when stating in article 23 that “State guarantees the freedom of scientific research and encourages its institutions as a means towards achieving national sovereignty and building a knowledge economy. The State also supports researchers and inventors”. That was emphasized again in article 66 of Egypt’s constitution. So, the State would support researchers and inventors and encourages research institutes with the goal of creating Knowledge Economy.
Egypt Constitution: At least 1% of GDP for Scientific Research!
The rest of article 23 of Egypt’s constitution is the most remarkable where it states that “[The State] commits to allocating a percentage of government expenditures that are no less than 1% of Gross National Product to scientific research which will gradually increase until it reaches global levels.” That is not usual in constitutional language. Also, the commitment of 1% of GDP is about fourfold increase compared to current expenditures in Egypt (~0.25% of GDP average over 2004-2010 period). Besides, strictly speaking, the constitutional text refers to scientific research only while the value usually quoted is the Gross Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD) which include expenditures on development in addition to expenditures on research. Expenditures spent on development usually has a higher share. One of the reasons for the low economic impact of research on the economy in Arab countries is the extreme low-level of expenditures on development. The present commitment is an important one that represents a new level of support to research and development in Egypt that will eventually accelerate the transition to Knowledge Economy. Current Tunisia’s expenditures on research and development amount to 1.1% of the GDP.
Reforming in Intellectual Property Rights Protection
In Iraq’s constitution, there is no reference to intellectual property rights, patents, or copyrights; although laws exist that protect it while Tunisia’s constitution guarantees intellectual property rights in article 41. Similarly, article 69 of the Egyptian constitution mandates the State to protect all kinds of intellectual property and to set up a competent body to uphold these rights and provide for their legal protection as regulated by law. Both Egypt’s and Tunisia’s references to intellectual property rights are without specifying a purpose. However, in both (WIPO) and (WTO), developing countries have argued rightly that intellectual property is not an end for its own sake, but should serve a purpose. For example, the US constitution protects intellectual property (patents and copyrights) with the purpose of promoting the progress of science and arts. [Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution states: “Congress shall have the power … to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.] (ref).
Protecting intellectual property rights is a real problem in the Arab region and needs attention. Reforms are needed at the legislative level as well as the policy and implementation level. However, it is important that protecting intellectual property be contextualized to serve a national purpose and constitutions are a great place to do just that.
Environment and Sustainable Development
In Tunisia’s constitution environment and climate change were clear in the opening preamble of the constitution that notes “the necessity of contributing to a secure climate and the protection of the environment.” Also, the new climate clause under Article 45 obliges the state to guarantee “a sound climate and the right to a sound and balanced environment,” and to “provide the necessary means to eliminate environmental pollution.” Its reference to climate change is considered pioneering in constitutions. Moreover, Tunisia’s constitution creates an independent body (article 129 of Tunisia’s constitution) named Sustainable Development and Rights of Future Generations Commission. The commission shall be consulted on draft laws related to economic, social, and environmental issues and on development planning. Thus, the commission is mandated to ensure that development laws and programs are in harmony with environmental needs and sustainability.
In Iraq’s constitution, the environment is mentioned in article 33, whose first clause stipulates “Every individual has the right to live in safe environmental conditions” and its second close “The State shall undertake the protection and preservation of the environment and the biological diversity in Iraq.” It is interesting to note that Iraq’s constitution recognizes biodiversity explicitly. The reason is the current great risks associated with biodiversity in Iraq especially in the Marshlands and other hot spots endangered by mismanagement, neglect, and climate change in Iraq.
In Egypt, the environment was mentioned mainly in articles 44-46 of the constitution. Article 44 is about the Nile and includes language to protect it from pollution while Article 45 of the constitution stipulates “the State shall protect seas, shores, lakes, water passages, and national parks”. In article 46 of Egypt’s constitution we have the following text, “every citizen has the right to a healthy environment” and “the State shall take the necessary steps to protect the environment.” Furthermore, Egypt’s constitution mentions sustainable development in articles 27 and 41 as a guide to economic development while renewable energy was mentioned in article 32 emphasizing the role of green technologies in sustainable economic development.
Conclusions
Recognizing the central role played by science, technology, and innovation in economic growth, job creation, and improved competitiveness in a globalized economy, the constitutions of Iraq, Egypt, and Tunisia in their attempted reform, paid great attention to contemporary challenges facing their countries. The role of a healthy and sustainable environment is reflected in the language of these constitutions. The real challenge now for the three countries is to carry out what is envisaged in their constitutions into consistent science policy reforms and execution plans that support social and economic development for the benefit of their citizens.
That was a short excursion into the three constitutions.
Did I miss anything? Or any extra information or comments would you like to add here? You can always use the comment section below to let us know of your ideas.
Samir Raouf
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- Why Arab Countries Need to Adopt Knowledge Economy Model in Their Development Strategies?
- The Secret behind Low Levels of Funding for Scientific Research in Arab Countries
Iraq STI 
Dear Dr. Samir,
This is a very nice post. It contains simple and enjoyable comparison. It seems that the Arab “spring” brought attention to the environment as well.
One small correction; the environment was mentioned in Article 33 not 32 in the Iraqi constitution.
Regards
Saadi
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Dear Dr. Saadi,
Thanks for your comment. You are absolutely right in pinpointing the typo error the article number related to environment in Iraqi constitution. That is corrected in the above post.
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The three constitutions recognised the importance of science and technology in the long-term future of their respective countries. Without science and engineering advancement, in the face of advancement by regional and international powers, Arabic countries will not be able to resolve their environmental and economic problems.
However, the Iraqi constitution has failed to understand of the critical role of individual creativity in progress by not making any reference to intellectual property rights. The economic and personal incentives for Iraqis to invent and publish have been missing from this exhaustive constitution. The constitution also missed the opportunity to link between national sovereignty and technological development. The picture of national sovereignty that emerges today is different from the picture that was accepted at the time of the establishment of the Iraqi state. Another key issue in recognition of the benefit of science, research and technology to the country that the constitution should have embraced is the development of human resources such as capacity building in universities, research institutes, health centres and technology parks which are the engine of economic growth. It is appropriate to remind our legislators of one of the five oaths in Japan constitution, that is: “Knowledge will be sought and acquired from any source with all means at our disposal for the greatness and security of Japan”.
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Dear Dr. Mohammed Al-Rubeai,
Thanks for sharing your comments and important insight to this important topic. Your point of individual creativity and the need to promote it for economic growth is important and intellectual property is an important tool for that purpose.
The role of science and technology in any society is as important to every citizen as it is to the scientific community. It is very important for the scientific community, being an important part of the community to influence and participate actively in policy and development issues, such as drafting laws and developing strategies and to communicate that to the public and to link science and technology to state sovereignty, development, progress, service delivery and economic growth.
Outreach activities of the scientific community to the society at large are important to make the role of science and technology a shared value across the society.
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I remember in 1987 doing a study on research spending. Iraq had no article in its budget for research. Israel, in the same year had spent 5% of its GDP on it. That is not to mention the private sector spending.
I also remember that in 1976 the Ministry of higher education had set aside 15000 Dinars for research in all of Iraq’s universities. a pitiful amount even then. This was not repeated in later budgets. By that I mean that no money was allocated.
I am presently preparing several academic studies for a number of new universities in Iraq. They all want to have several research centers in each college. However I remember that the very few research centers that already exist in Iraqi universities have very limited budgets. Has anything changed? Can the Iraqi ministry of higher education suddenly support a hundred or more research centers?
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Dear Dr. Sahar,
Thanks for a serious comment about a subject raised frequently be researchers.
The short answer is yes, much more funds are allocated now for research centers. Ministry of Science and Technology has about 40 research centers. Ministry of Higher Education supports more than a hundred research center.
I want to clarify some ambiguity about research funding. In international practice it is under the name Gross Expenditures on Research and Development or GERD. It includes:
1- All direct expenditures on research
2- Salaries of researchers and support staff
3- Expenditure on research infrastructure such as research equipment, laboratories and other research facilities
4- All development work done by firms to develop and improve their industrial products and building research and development infrastructure (in USA, product/ process development by industrial firms account to 70% of GERD).
If we go back to the 1970’s, the number you quoted represent a very small part of GERD. If you remember the Astronomical Observatory Project, other projects by council of scientific research and other research organizations they are all funded beyond the numbers you quoted. Then we need to add all salaries of researchers. However, surely that won’t bring the GERD to 1% of the GDP.
Iraq’s problems in this respect can be summarized:
A-GERD is even not measured. How can we control something that we don’t measure?
B-Expenditures are not along national priorities. Research topics are decided on the researcher level.
C-Funds are not granted on transparent competitive bases as practiced in other countries, thus duplication of work is common. I refer you to my post about limitations of our practices in research funding.
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Further to Dr Sahar and Dr Samir interesting comments on research funding in Iraq I would like to emphasize the fact that the pool of trained scientists in Iraq today is incomparably greater than it was twenty years ago, nevertheless, a very large gap between desirability and achievement clearly develops. Yes, it is clear that support to scientific research is poor but scientists themselves are poorly trained and normally pursuing trivial work without serious intention of showing results for the money received. Is there anything of apparent value comes out of Iraqi research? There are very few outstanding scientists who may be of international level. Iraq might have made more progress in scientific research if it had concentrated its effort on few priorities and money is allocated to promote the work of scientists with international standing. Additionally, it would have made sense to choose rational and useful research projects and priorities research area for funding purpose.
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Thank you Dr. Al-Rubeai for an important comment. I agree that your comment addresses the important issues in Iraqi scientific community. The comment highlights several of the shortcomings of existing research system in Iraq. Issues such as quantity and quality of researchers, effectiveness of research being in terms of quality and return etc.
The only clear way to move forward is to have a clear national science policy in Iraq, where above ideas can be considered while developing such a policy and institutions are established to monitor and coordinate implementation of such policy.
If status quo continues to prevail, research priorities will continue to be decided at the implementation level and scientific activity will remain scattered, uncoordinated and in many cases duplicated.
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